Red Hand
by tbka
Summary: A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for?
1. Prologue

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_**Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaimes old friends; and eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. :.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst  
_

_**Rating: **T  
_

_**Author's Notes: **Yes, this is a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover. This story has been in my head for many months and it's actually the novel I'm writing for NaNoWriMo...yes, the novel I'm writing for NaNo is a fanfiction. So what? Does it look like I care? Uh...no! So yah, if I actually succeed in NaNoWriMo then this story will be at least 50,000 words AND done by the end of Novemeber. Kapesh? (If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is then go google it...mkay?)_

_ Don't worry, I have not abandoned "Fade to Black" nor "Self-Sustained Hell." Once November is over then I will be returning my focus to those two stories._

_Oh, and this story is not in any way connected in any of my other stories so what has happened in "Fade to Black" so far is NOT being used as the past for this story.  
_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?  
_

**Please R&R**

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The suns shines brightly behind me, casting my shadow across the Memorial Stone and hiding the names carved in to its cold surface. 

Names that mock me, names that won't let me forget. Memories so raw. People I can't forget but I refuse to let myself remember.

My mask is wet, soaked with tears that I can't stop. Soaked with guilt and pain, memories of the good and the bad. The forgotten lay here, names that are faceless, left to fade away. People that no longer breath, no longer think nor feel.

It should be me. My name should be carved in this stone. It should be my name becoming faceless and fading away.

"Kakashi," an old man's voice reaches my ears, "You should be covering your Sharingan."

I don't move to push my hitaiate down. I don't move to cover Obito's eye. Maybe if I stare at this stone long enough with someone else's eye then maybe I'll understand why this happened. Maybe I'll be able to figure everything out.

"Kakashi," he whispers as he stands to my right.

"It's always the people I care about," I mutter, "that end up here."

"Obito isn't going to be able to show you anything more then you can see yourself."

"I shouldn't have become friends with them, I shouldn't have gotten close to them," my voice starts to break.

I new torrent of tears make their way down my face. I fresh wave of guilt and shame.

After a few minutes of silence I wipe the tears from my eyes and push my hitaiate down to cover my left eye; Obito's Sharingan.

"Kakashi," Sarutobi's stern voice, now taking his serious tone, "I know that you've asked for time off but there's a long-term mission that I think you might be able to benefit from."

"Yes?" I ask, turning to face the now re-established Third Hokage.

"As you know," he starts, "many missing-nins have fled to try and find safety overseas. I've managed, with help from a friend that happens to live overseas, to locate many of these missing-nins. Now I just need someone to take care of them."

"I'll go," I cut in, "to wherever it is you want me to go."

He nods, "Very well. This friend of mine is the Headmaster of a boarding school for wizards and witches so you'll be staying in the school."

"Wizards and witches?" I question.

"Magic and chakra are the same thing, they just use their chakra in different ways then we use ours," Sarutobi explains.

I nod. This could be interesting.

"What is your friends name?" I ask, returning my gaze to the Memorial Stone.

"Albus Dumbledore," Sandaime replies, "But I must warn you, he is quite old, quite…how should I say this? Eccentric? Yes…quite eccentric."

I nod.

"He's also very strong," he continues, "I fear that his chakra, combined with the chakra of all the students and the other teachers, may overwhelm your senses. It may take awhile for you to adjust to the atmosphere there."

"I accept," I state.

I turn around and begin to walk away.

"Oh, and also," Sarutobi calls to me, "You'll be assisting Professor Remus Lupin in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. And you'll need to learn to speak English."

I keep walking but I wave my right hand to acknowledge that I heard him.

"You'll be leaving in six days!" he calls after my retreating form.

"Oh for fuck sakes," I mutter under my breath as I jump into a tree.

The sun beats against my back as I take off running through the branches. I have one more place to visit today as there's someone I must talk to. Someone that has to know that I will be gone for a very long time.

"Now what are you going to think about this father?" I whisper as I drop from the trees to stand at the edge of a graveyard, "Your son is leaving to go to a magic school."

The thought is absurd.


	2. First Kill

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_**  
Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaimes old friends; and eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst  
_

_**Rating: **T  
_

_**Author's Notes: **I haven't read the Harry Potter books in a long time so some events and facts and such things may be off. But you know what, this is a fanfic so I don't particularly care a whole lot. Well, I do care but I'm just going to pretend that the facts and events that are wrong have actually been changed on purpose...if that makes any sense at all._

_Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure.  
_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

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It would be an understatement to say that the castle before me is large. The huge, red-brown bricks haphazardly pile on top of each other to form this monster of a castle that I know holds a school and hundreds of children. 

I can feel someone's chakra but I can't see anyone. The only living thing around me is a tabby cat sitting behind the gates that lock me out of the huge castle I'm suppose to be going to. This is a magnificent place, someone takes pride in this school. I can already feel the chakra that's emitting from the castle even though I'm no where near it yet

The thing that I find incredibly strange about this place is that you can't see it at all until you turn the corner and push through the last remaining trees and underbrush of the forest. This huge castle is completely hidden and I have a gut feeling that it has had a little outside, or perhaps inside, help from a force besides nature.

Some small part of my mind is trying to tell me that this place isn't normal and that I shouldn't stay here. However, a larger, more frantic and louder part of my mind is screaming at me, telling me that this is where I've been ordered to go; this is where Sarutobi has sent me. I listen to the louder part of my mind because, after all, I'm only fourteen and I've never lived on my own before; I simply can't.

So, with my mind made up I trudge up the remaining mile to the gate and stand before them, looking at the tabby cat.

"I know you're the cat," I state in my thick English accent.

I watch as the aforementioned cat morphs into an older lady with a stern look on her face.

"Dumbledore said you would be able to figure me out," she said, I figure more to herself then to me, "How did you know?"

"I could sense your chakra," I pause, "sorry, your magic, "I correct myself.

She nods, looking like she doesn't quite believe me. She walks forward and pulls a key out of her robe then proceeds to unlock the gate. I take a few steps forward but pause as the air begins to feel thick and suffocating.

"Sorry but I have to clear you through the protective spells that surround the castle."

I nod and watch as she returns the key to her pocket and pulls out a small wand. She waves the wand in a specific pattern and quietly mutters a series of words. The gates slowly creak open and the thick air begins to return to a normal texture.

"Follow me," she states as she quietly turns around, her black robe bellowing behind her.

I fall into step behind her as she quickly strides up the path to the castle. She waves her wand and I hear the gates close and lock behind me.

Using chakra is such and outward way, being able to affect outside objects so drastically is quite amazing. I could learn a lot here if I had only come for a different reason.

After walking in complete silence for many long minutes we finally reach the doors of the castle. The chakra coming from within is amazingly strong, hundreds of children with intermingled natural chakra. It overwhelms my senses, causing my breath to hitch and my heart to beat rapidly. I briefly close my eyes and take a few slow, deep breathes to calm my mind and still my heart. It's going to take a while for me to get use to this atmosphere here, this suffocating chakra.

I hear the grinding of the wooden doors opening and I return my thoughts to the outside world.

She's a few feet in front of me and I quickly walk forward to fall into step behind her. This place is huge, full of stairs that are moving. Moving stairs? What kind of place is this? A bell rings and I suppress a shudder of shock. Almost immediately waves of children come pouring out of the multiple doors and flood the previously empty halls. The children rush so much, are so hasty to get to their class. A couple kids stop and stare at me, it makes me uncomfortable. They whisper to their friends who in turn stop to stare at me. I know I don't look anything like them, I know my clothes and the way I stand and act are different then them…but still, have they never been taught that staring is impolite? Have they learned no manners?

"Keep moving," my guide's booming voice echoes through the hall, "Don't be late for class!"

She starts walking, pushing a path though the children, and I quietly follow her. I need to get out of here, I need to get away from their stares and hushed whispers. It reminds me too much of the people in Konoha, the people I've come here to get away from.

After a few minutes the halls begin to empty and the n finally fall silent again. Another bell rings, I assume it's to signal the beginning of the next class.

She leads me down twisting halls and up moving stairs.

"Is that a ghost?" I ask as I spot someone, or something, that's see-though floating at the top of the stairs we're currently climbing.

"Don't worry, they're quite harmless," she replies.

"They?"

There's more then one ghost? What is this place?

"If you don't bother them they won't bother you," she answers.

The ghost floats away as we reach the top of the stairs. It's going to take more than a little while for me to get use to this place, if I ever can at all.

We turn right and walk about halfway down the hall then stop in front of a statue of a gargoyle.

She leans forwards and whispers into the gargoyle's ear, words that sound like 'toffee éclairs." That statue swings open to reveal a twisting staircase behind it. Were those words a password? If so then that is one very strange password.

She steps onto the stairs and I follow suit. Why isn't she walking up the stairs?

The stairs start moving, taking us up to wherever it is that they lead to. So that's why she didn't start walking up the stairs. But what's the point of having stairs take you where they lead? It doesn't take much effort to walk up the stairs under your own power. Are wizards really so lazy that they can't be bothered to walk up stairs? It's such a pointless waste of chakra and talent.

We reach a door and the stairs stop moving. Someone on the other side of the door is incredibly strong. The chakra that's emitting from that person is amazing; it might even be stronger then Arashi-sensei's chakra.

She knocks on the door.

"Come in," a cheerful voice calls from inside.

She opens the door and walks inside; I follow.

As soon as I step through that door I'm hit by a wall of chakra. It's so much stronger now and I don't know if it's just from that one person or if the objects in the room also carry their own chakra. I have a sudden urge to remove my hitaiate and see exactly where this chakra is coming from but I resists; there is no need to show them my eye.

I take a deep breath and walk forward to stand to the right, and slightly behind, the woman who has led me here.

"I'm glad you made it here safely," an old man, the one with the cheerful voice, says as he stand s up from his seat behind his desk.

The chakra is nearly suffocating me. How do people live in this castle? How can anyone stay in the presence of this chakra for so long? This is unbearable, this is mentally exhausting. This is crushing me.

I take another deep breath in a futile attempt to get rid of this suffocating feeling. I step forward, bow, and then straighten.

"Albus-senpai," I acknowledge, cringing at my own thick accent, "Hatake Kakashi," I pause and then correct myself, "sorry…Kakashi Hatake reporting on mission orders."

"He smiles warmly at me, "There is no need for such formalities here."

I resist the urge to sigh in frustration, "I'm here on orders and the knowledge that I will be lodging here. I'm not here to make friends."

He just continues smiling, "Sarutobi informed me that you are only fourteen, there's no need to hide behind an adult mask here."

"I'm here to hunt missing-nins that have fled our land to hide in yours, nothing more."

I do not need another 'father-figure' in my life. I don't need to get close to another person only to watch them die. Not now, not so soon after Rin and Arashi's death. Not now and not ever. It's too painful. That's why I agreed to come here; to get away from everyone I know, to surround myself with unfamiliar people that I can't get close to. People that if they die it won't hurt me, I won't care.

"Very well," the old man states, still with that stupid smile of his, "But if you ever need to talk don't hesitate to ask me."

We fall into silence. After a few moments Albus begins to shuffle through a mess of papers on his desk. Has he never heard of the word 'organize' before?

"By the way," Albus speaks up above the noise of the shuffling papers, "You're aware that you will be assisting Professor Remus Lupin in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, right?"

"Yes," I reply.

"Also," he continues in a more serious tone, "The mask and hitaiate…is that right, hitaiate?"

I nod.

"Yes…well," he continues, "The mask and hitaiate are unnecessary. During these times people tend not to trust those that hide their face. I ask that you removing them."

"No."

The shuffling of paper stops, "Pardon?" he asks.

"No," I repeat.

"And what, do you think, gives you the authority to refuse to do what I ask of you?" his voice is rising with slight frustration, "Did you forget that Sarutobi, your boss, has given me permission to ask you to do what I wish. Or maybe I should 'order' you if that's the only way I can get through to you."

"No one has seen my face," I explain, "except a select few that I trust. And to reveal my eye would weaken me."

"What is wrong with your eye?" he asks, a hint of sympathy hidden in his voice.

I don't reply. I don't want to say, I don't want to talk about it. Talking about it makes it real, forces me to believe. If I don't talk about it I can pretend that this eye isn't Obito's, I can pretend that it really is mine.

He returns to shuffling through his papers with a heavy sigh. After a few tense moments he finds the paper, which is actually a scroll, and picks it up. He turns to face me with a soft smile.

"This arrived earlier, it's addressed to you."

I step forward and take the scroll with a slight bow, then I step back.

"I will not ask you to remove your mask nor your hitaiate but may I ask to at least see your hidden eye?"

That silly caring smile is still plastered on his face and he continues to speak in that stupid cheerful voice of his.

I place the scroll in an empty holster in my Jounin vest. I use my left hand to shift my hitaiate up so the while thing rests on my forehead, like it's meant to, and my left eye is completely uncovered; though I keep it closed.

As soon as I open my left eye my vision is assaulted with threads of chakra everywhere. There's so much chakra embedded in the walls, the surrounding objects, and even floating in the air.

"And what, besides its colour, requires you to hide that eye?" Albus asks.

I focus my attention to the old wizard and the chakra that flows through his body is amazingly strong. I can't even fathom how hard it must be to continuously control that chakra all the time. My body wouldn't be able to handle it, my body would fail. Hell, my body can barley contain the chakra I do have and what I have is not much.

"Ask Sandaime," I state.

He cocks his head, "And why will you not tell me yourself?"

I pull the hitaiate back over my left eye, "It's not something I wish to tell you."

"And why would that be?" the old wizard continues to press.

"Ask Sandaime," I repeat.

He nods, realizing that the information he wants will not come from me, "Professor Minerva McGonagall will show you to your room, unless you have any questions.

"Am I able to leave and enter the grounds on my own?" I ask, "Without the fear of some sort of protective spell acting against me?"

"Well," Albus mutters in thought, and then asks, "How many times a day do you expect to be leaving the grounds?"

"That, I can't say," I answer, "It depends on how many missions I receive. Even then, when I come back is completely unknown. A mission could take a few hours, a few days, a week, perhaps a month. I can't predict the timeframe of the mission and therefore I can't predict when I will return."

"Very well, I'll pass you through the protective spells so that you can freely move on and off the grounds as you need. You may leave now," he waves me off with a smile.

I bow and turn around to fall into step behind the woman from earlier. The woman I now know as Professor Minerva McGonagall. We leave the room, carried down by the moving staircase and exiting out the opening the gargoyle usually hides.

Like before she leads me through twisting hallways and moving stairs until she stops in front of a door in one of the lower levels of the castle. She reaches into her robe and pulls out a key that she uses to unlock the door before handing it to me.

"It's nothing much but there's a bed and bathroom. There's a public shower room for the teacher's at the end of this hall. All meals are served and eaten in the Great Hall; just follow the parade of kids, you can't miss it," she explains to me.

I nod and she turns and walks away, disappearing around a corner. Do they really expect me to eat around others? That would require me to remove my mask in public, something I will never do, especially here.

I sigh, place the key in a pocket in my vest, and open the door to my room. She's right, it's nothing special. Just a small living room with a couch, a fireplace, and a small table against a wall that is flanked by two doors. I walk across the room and open one of the doors, the one on the right of the table, to find a bedroom on the other side. Nothing special either, just a double bed and a small dresser. There's a small window on the far wall, just above the bed.

I walk into the room and take my backpack off, setting it on the perfectly made bed. I unzip the front, smallest pocket and pull out a small zipper bag that contains the normal bathroom things; toothbrushes, combs, razors, etc. I set the bag on my bed.

I unzip the main pocket of the backpack and pull out my clothes, taking them to the dresser and putting them in separate drawers; one for pants, one for shirts, one for underwear, and one for my socks and gloves.

I return to the bed and pull out a small picture frame from the backpack. I then put the backpack under my bed and grab the small zipper bag from earlier. I walk to the dresser and set the picture frame on it. The picture frame that frames a picture of my former team; Arashi-sensei, Obito, Rin, me. I'm the last one still alive from that team, the only one to still be breathing.

And I'm in a fucking school full of wizards and witches. Aren't you proud of me Arashi-sensei? I'm running away again, just like always. Your deaths didn't change me at all. I'm still afraid to face my pain, still afraid to face reality. I'm still running away from everything that hurts.

I shake my head, desperately trying to get rid of my thoughts. I slowly walk out of the room, making sure to close the door behind me, and push open the other door; the door that leads to the bathroom.

The room is tiny, big enough to just barely fit in the toilet and sink. A mirror hangs above the counter were the sink sits. There's a shelf to the right of the mirror and that's where I place the small bag. I turn around and leave the bathroom, also closing the door behind me, and sit on the couch facing the fireplace.

I watch the flames dancing around the logs. There's something memorizing about fire, something relaxing. After some unknown amount of time, I don't bother to keep track, I pull out a scroll from my vest; the scroll Albus gave me earlier. I set it beside me on the couch, knowing that I still have one more thing to do before I can carry out my newest mission.

Reluctantly I stand up and pull out another scroll from my vest. I bite my thumb as I throw the scroll into the air, letting it unroll as I perform a series of seals. I grab one end of the scroll and rub my bleeding thumb across the thick paper. I twist and turn the scroll; pulling it in the familiar pattern I've done so many times before. I flick my wrist and the scroll roles up. I drop to my knees and slam the scroll into the ground. Effectively make this the place that is my summoning dog's main living quarters; the place she gets summoned from.

Immediately after Mikoto, holding her pup Pakkun in her mouth, appears beside the scroll. She sets the pup down and looks up to me as I replace the scroll in my vest.

"This place is tiny," she states as she looks around.

"So it is," I reply, glad to be talking in Japanese again, "But it does have a fireplace to make up for it."

"Tat is nice," the female dog says as she jumps on the couch and curls up, "Will be nice and warm in the winter."

I stand up and grab the scroll from the couch.

"A mission already?" Mikoto questions and I nod as I unroll the mission request.

"Ran off seven years ago," I read, "Twenty-three now, male, specializes in Taijutsu."

"His name?" she asks.

"Kishoto," I reply, looking down as something licks my shoes.

I roll the scroll up and toss place it in a pocket in my vest. I squat down and pat Pakkun who rolls on to his hack, legs kicking the air and tail wagging madly as I scratch his stomach. I smile under my mask and chuckle lightly.

"You're just full of energy, neh?" I say as I pick up the two month old ball of fur.

I raise the pup to my face and rub my nose against Pakkun's wet one. He barks in happiness and licks my right cheek. I chuckle as I quietly place the pup on the couch beside Mikoto.

"Don't give him to me," she fake complains, "he's too energetic for this old body."

I chuckle as Pakkun snuggles against his mother, his previous hyperness forgotten as the warmth of his mother's body makes him sleepy.

"Don't get too sleepy, I might need you," I inform Mikoto as I walk to my back in the bedroom.

I pull the backpack out from underneath my bed and remove a few kunai, shuriken, senbons, and smoke bombs. I place these weapons in the holster on my right leg and the holster on the back of my waist. I push the backpack back underneath the bed.

I walk back to the living room, tightening my gloves. I pull out the key to my room from the pocket in my vest and I pull my dog-tags over my head. I undue the clasp at the back of the chain and slip it through the convenient whole in the key. I do the clasp back up and slip the chain over my head again, tucking the dog-tags and the key underneath my vest.

"He shouldn't be too hard," I state as I walk over to the door, "but be aware I may need you, even just to find my way back if I get distracted and he leads me to a place I can't find my way out of."

"Yah, I'll come if you summon me," Mikoto mumbles, "I won't fall asleep until you get back."

I push the door open, softly closing it behind me. I close my eyes, thinking back to where I came from and the path Minerva led me on. I nervously reach behind me with my right hand and grab the hilt of my katana, shifting it to make sure it is securely fastened underneath my vest. This isn't my father's sword and I have to make sure I remember that. Lately I've been making the mistake of thinking it will utilize the Hatake chakra like father's sword did; but it won't.

I open my eyes and turn to my left, following the path of my memory. I make my way down twisting hallways and moving stairs. After many silent minutes of me focusing on where I'm going and desperately trying to ignore the overwhelming chakra that threatens to suffocate me I finally find myself in front of the huge doors that I came through to get in here.

I push the doors open and step outside. To the left of the path that leads to the gates there is a class in the courtyard. A class that Professor McGonagall is teaching. A class that has something to do with brooms.

I nervously shift my katana again as my eyes meet Professor McGonagall's. She squints her eyes and cocks her head in unvoiced confusion. I turn my head to focus my attention on the gates of the castle.

"Professor Hatake!"

It takes a moment for me to realize that Minerva is calling to me; I'm not used to being called 'Professor.' I turn my head to look at her. She beckons me over with a wave of her hand and a soft smile. Should I go there? Is there any reason too? Without realizing it my feet start taking me over to the group of children.

I reach Professor McGonagall and the group of children.

"Children," Minerva begins as I stand beside her, "this is Professor Hatake."

The kids look at me with questions in their eyes. They're all so innocent, so child-like, so oblivious to the pain in this world.

"Professor Hatake," Minerva addresses me and I turn to look at her, "these are some of the Third Year students."

I nod, "And what exactly are you teaching them that requires brooms?"

"Flying," one of the kids, a tall, lanky, red-head, speaks up.

"How old are these kids?" I question, letting my curiosity override my naturally withdrawnness.

"About thirteen," Minerva answers.

They're only a year young then me and they're only learning how to fly on broomsticks. They're all incredible innocent, with no knowledge of the real world. They're pathetic really. To be this old and still have such innocence and no real experience with death is pathetic.

"I have a mission to complete," I state matter-of-factly, my former curiosity shoved to the back of my mind.

"What kind of mission," Minerva asks in her own genuine curiosity.

"I have to kill someone named Kishoto who's hiding in a forest not far from here," I answer as I shove my hands in my pockets and start to walk back to the path.

"You mean arrest, right?" A girl asks from the crowd of children.

I stop walking and twist my upper body around to face the girl who spoke. Her curly brown hair falls down her shoulders.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Hermione," she confidently replies.

I hate people with fake confidence even though I know I'm guilty of the same thing. Still, it irks me when others project the same fake confidence I do, especially when they do it badly like this young girl.

"No Hermione," I calmly state, "I don't mean arrest, I quite clearly said kill."

"Professor Hatake," Minerva exclaims.

"She asked," I interrupt her, "so I answered."

I twist myself back around and continue walking towards the path. I make my way down the pebbled path and then stop walking in front of the locked gate. I sigh as I bend down and then jump over the metal gates, placing my right hand on the top of one of the metal poles and using the surface to push my body up the rest of the way. I land on the other side in a deep crouch and slowly stand up.

I begin walking down towards the forest, reaching up with my left hand to shift my katana back into a comfortable position. I reach the border of the forest and bend down to jump into the branches.

I jump backwards, landing in a sliding crouched position.

Kishoto stands right where I used to be.

"So you've come to face me head on," I state, standing up and smiling underneath my mask, "Someone's afraid to die a coward," I let the familiar Japanese words roll of my tongue.

"I've heard of you, Hatake Kakashi," Kishoto growls, "All the missing-nins hiding here have heard that you've come to kill us. We've all been preparing, we're all ready for you."

He runs towards me. I reach up and push my hitaiate up so that my left is revealed. I duck his attack and bolt into the forest. None of the children need to see me kill this man. I will not be responsible for destroying their innocence; I just won't let myself be.

"Afraid to face me?!" Kishoto calls after me.

I keep running until I find a small clearing, no bigger then the room I know sleep in. I jump from the branches of the trees and land on the soft grass. I tiny, bubbling stream cuts through this clearing.

I turn around, raising my left arm to effortless block his punch.. My right hand grabs his leg as he attempts to kick me. I twist my body around, letting go of his limbs and ducking under his attack. I focus my chakra into my right hand and punch him. My hand cuts through skin and chest muscles; breaking ribs and piercing his lung and heart before bursting out the other side of him.

Blood bubbles out of his mouth and he coughs; spitting warm blood on my face.

"Well," I drawl out, "that was ridiculously easy."

His eyes rolls back and his knees collapse. His limp body slides of my arm and lands with an audible thud on the soft grass. His blood has soaked through my gloves and the sleeve of my black shirt. It stained my skin.

I numbly watch as his blood seeps into the green grass, slowly making it's way to the bubbling creek. It stains the flowing water red.

I sigh, feeling the overwhelming guilt beginning to overtake my emotions. Killing has never been something I've enjoyed but during a fight my adrenaline allows me to forget about the fact that I'm ending a life. However, after the fight the adrenaline fades away and is replaced by guilt.

I pull out my katana, walk over to the limp body, and behead the lifeless form. I place my katana back in its holster on my bag and pull out a small canvas bag from a pocket in my vest. I gingerly grab the head by its black hair, carefully placing it in the bag and tying it closed. I whistle and one of the four eagles that have followed me from Konoha flies through the air and lands on the ground beside me. I set the bag on the ground and remove my hands from it. The eagle hops on to the bag, it's claws clamping into the thick fabric. I pull out the mission request from my vest. I unroll the scroll as I grab a quill from my vest. I dip the quill in Kishoto's blood that has turned black on the dirt and use it to write my mission report. After a few silent moments I wipe the quill on the grass and place it back in my pocket. I roll the scroll back up and tie it to the eagle's right leg.

I step back as the eagle starts to beat its wings and then takes off to bring the mission report and the head, as proof, to Sarutobi.

I look at the lifeless, now headless, body of the first missing-nin I've killed here. I wish the others would be as easy to kill as this one was but I know that won't be true.

I take make a few seals and take a deep breath. I raise my hand to my mouth a blow into it. A small ball of flame emits from my mouth as I perform a miniature version of the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. The ball of fire lands on Kishoto's body and quickly burns it up until not even any ashes remain.

I turn back to face the direction I came, to face the path back to the castle. I push my hitaiate down to cover my left eye. I jump into the branches of the trees and quickly run back to my room. I need to get this blood off of me, I need to get rid of this smell.

I reach the edge of the forest and jump back on to the ground. I walk up to the gates, projecting a sense of calmness that I know is fake. Panic is raging inside of me, a desperate desire to wash this blood off of my clothes and my skin.

I jump over the gates, landing on the ground on the other side and catching myself with my right hand. I stand up to see that the class from before, the kids learning how to fly on brooms, are staring at me. I wonder how long I've been gone. It couldn't have been too long if the class is still in session.

I slowly make my way to the doors of the castle, desperately trying to ignore Professor McGonagall and the children.

"Professor Hatake?" Minerva questions.

I turn to face her. I'm not that far from the door now, not that far away from the showers.

"Professor Hatake?" she repeats as she walks closer towards me.

Her students follow quietly behind.

"He actually killed him," a blond-haired child mutters.

"If you wish to speak to me Professor McGonagall," I state, keeping my voice as neutral as I can, "then can you seek me out later. I wish now to go clean up."

The blond-haired boy stares wide-eyed up at me, along with almost all the other children.

She nods and I turn to face the doors again. I push my way in and briskly walk up the stairs and through the twisting hallways until I reach the shower room at the end of the hall that my room is located in. I try to turn the doorknob to find that it is locked.

The burning desire inside of me to wash this blood away is growing with every passing second. I fumble at the chain around my neck for a few seconds. I finally manage to pull it over my head and use the key that unlocks my own door to unlock the door that's in front of me. I pull the chain over my head again and tuck it back underneath my vest as I push the door open with my shoulder.

I step inside to find two other people already there. One is an adult with black, greasy hair and clothed all in black. The other is a young brown-haired boy who's eyes are filled with fear and pain.

The adult is washing the child's arm underneath one of the shower heads. There are no walls to separate the showers, just a series of shower heads on the left side of the room. A series of bathtubs are located at the far end of the wall while a long bench and floor-length mirrors are located on the right side of the room.

The black-haired adult, who I assume is a professor, turns to look up at me.

"Who are you?" his cold voice cuts through the air.

"Hatake Kakashi," I cringe at my mistake, "sorry…Kakashi Hatake."

It's incredibly hard to get use to saying my surname last instead of first.

The kids terrified eyes stare up at me, pleading for relief from whatever pain he is feeling.

"What happened?" I question, trying to distract myself from the fact that blood still soaks my skin.

"I knocked my cauldron over," the child's shaking voice replied, "and spilled my potion on my arm."

"You're the new kid professor aren't you?" the adult asks.

"Yes."

I walk over to the two people as the adult leans over the kid and turns the shower off.

"What do you want?" he snaps at me.

I look up to stare into his black eyes, "Let me see the injury," I state with that fake confidence I've so perfectly mastered over the years.

"And what can you do?" he spits out at me.

I ignore him a turn to face the child. He holds out his left arm out and I grab a hold of his wrist with my left hand. It looks like a simple burn. I hold my right hand over the wound and focus my chakra so that it passes from my right hand to the child's left arm.

A small ball of blue chakra emits from my hand and spreads over the burn. I notice that this is much more then a simple burn but rather a series of microscopic cuts though the nerves in his arm that have formed together to look like a burn. As a result I'm forced to use more chakra then I first intended too. A few tense moments pass by and I finally release the child's arm and my chakra recedes back inside of me.

I drop my arms to my side and look up into the black eyes of the adult.

"I might be young but I'm not useless," I state.

I return my gaze to the kid, "There, it's healed now so don't go spilling potions again, okay?"

The kid nods and looks up at the black-haired adult, an unasked question lingering in his eyes. The adult looks down and examines the previously injured arm.

"You can go back to class," he states as he lets go of the kids arms.

The brown-haired child nods and literally bolts from the room.

I turn and walk towards the benches. I remove my vest and place it place it on the bench. I take out my katana and lean it against the one of the mirrors.

"I must admit, that was quite impressive," the adult states.

I turn around to find him leaning against the door, is arms folded across his chest.

"Especially for someone who is only fourteen."

"Who are you?" I ask as I turn back around.

I undue the straps across my chest that hold my katana's holster still on my back. I shift the straps and holster off my back and place them on the bench beside my vest.

"Severus Snape, Professor of Potions," he answers.

I turn around to face him, "Don't you have a class to go teach?" I question.

Why won't he leave. I need to shower, I need to wash this blood off of me.

"Who's blood is that?" he questions, unfolding his arms and pointing at my right hand.

"The missing-nin I killed," I reply, my voice shaking slightly with the wave of grief that overwhelms me, "his name was Kishoto. He was an idiot."

"Fourteen year-olds should be killing," he states, his words cutting like knives through my heart.

I turn around to face the benches again. I tug at my gloves and place them on the bench. I squeeze my eyes shut in a desperate attempt to control the emotions that are beginning to overtake me.

It's too earlier for me to be killing again. It's hasn't been long enough since Arashi-sensei and Rin's death for me to be going around killing others.

"The guilt is going to kill you before you even grow up…"

"It's not my fault that my country is ruled differently then yours," I interrupt him as I turn around to face him, "we face reality earlier then you do. It's just the way it is," my voice is full of that fake confidence again.

"You're soul will crumble here, surrounded by so many children."

"What do you think you are? A psychiatrist!" I spit out, sounding angrier then I intended too.

He smiles at me, "No," he replies as he turns and walks out.

The door slams shut behind me. The sound echoes throughout the empty room. I turn back to face the bench and rip off my remaining clothes, along with the mask that hides my identity from the world.

I turn around and walk over to one of the shower heads. I turn the tap on and let the warm water flow over my cold skin. I grab a bar of soap from one of the shelves carved into the stone walls. I scrub my right arm and my hand, desperately trying to get rid of the blood that has soaked into my body.

I don't know how long I stayed there, scrubbing my skin raw in a futile attempt to remove the blood that the rational part of my brain knows is no longer there. The water hides the torrent of tears that flow freely from my eyes.

Seven years. That missing-nin hid for seven years only to be killed by me. Seven years of freedom, seven years of fearless living. Did he have a family? A wife? A child? Sometimes I wonder if it really is better to not know what the shinobi's did to require them to become missing-nins. Sometimes I just really want to know what unforgivable crime they did so that maybe somehow, someway, I can justify killing them.

The water turns cold and I finally shut the water off. I lean my forehead against the cold wall. My left hand pressing against the wall beside my head and my right arm hangs limply beside me; though my right hand is balled into a tight fist.

I stay like that until the air finally dries all the water off of my skin.

All the water except the tears that still flow freely from my shut eyes that desperately try to stop them.


	3. Meetings

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaime's old friends; an eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst  
_

_**Rating: **T  
_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure.  
_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

I'm crouched down, my right hand resting on the cold stone floor. My left hand tightly grips the hilt of my katana, sweet lessoning my hold.

A class close by starts singing; it must be a choir class. Their voices travel through the stone walls and reach my ears, somewhat muted but still clear enough to hear:

_"It must have been cold there in my shadow,  
To never have sunlight in your face,  
And you can content to let me shine,  
You always walked a step behind._

_I was the one with all the glory,  
While you were the one with all the strength,  
Only a face without a name,  
I never once heard you complain."_

"To think that the day that you, Kakashi Hatake of Konohagakure, come here," the mysterious floating voice cuts through the children's song, "is the day that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will fall."

_"Did you ever know that you're my hero?  
And everything I would like to be,  
I can fly higher than an eagle,  
Cause you are the wind beneath my wings."_

An image of a crumpled castle and screaming children flashes in front of my Sharingan eye.

_"It might have appeared to go unnoticed,  
But I've got it all here in my heart,"_

"She's going to destroy the castle!" I scream in panic as I grip my sword and push myself up.

_"I want you to know, I know the truth, yes I do,  
I would be nothing without you."_

"What do you mean?" Professor McGonagall's panicked voice questions from behind me, "No one can take down a whole castle!"

_"Did you ever know that you're my hero?  
And everything I would like to be,  
I can fly higher than an eagle,  
Cause you are the wind beneath my wings."_

The castle begins to shake. The stones begin to feel hot beneath my feet.

_"Did you ever know that you're my hero?  
And everything I would like to be,"_

"Just try," the female voice belonging to the unknown body taunts, "Just try to save them all."

Her voice floats through the air, cutting through my very soul. Who is she? Where is she? Most importantly, **what** is she?

"_I can fly higher than an eagle,  
Cause you are the wind beneath my wings."_

The singing fades away to screams of panic as the stones begin to burn with fire. How does stone burn? What power can bring a castle down with fire?

Dumbledore mutters incantations underneath his breath and the bells of the castle begin to ring; alarm bells that signal an evacuation.

I run out the door, the children still in the room bolt behind me. Obito's eye frantically searches for the woman who belongs to the mocking voice. Where is she? I have to find her, I have to kill her, I have to save these people.

"Kakashi!" Albus' screams at me but I ignore him, "You won't be able to find her!" he continues.

"Just you watch," I mutter, "I will find her and I will kill her."

The castle beings to crumble and fall, "Get out of here Kakashi!" Severus Snape yells at me as I jump down the last few steps of the stairs and land in the entrance hall.

Children bang on the stone walls where front doors should be. What has happened? Has she sealed this doors? What abilities does she have? Who is she?

The castle shakes even more as the fire begins to spread from the top floors to the bottom floors. How does fire travel down? It goes against all nature, all knowledge. Fire travels upwards, it always has.

I run to the door, or whether, to the stone walls where the door should be. Hundreds of children have huddled around the former door in a futile attempt to escape. Some are still desperately clawing at the stones while others have given up.

I grasp the hilt of my katana with both hands and raise it above my head. I pour my chakra into the sword, knowing full well that this katana won't be able to hold together long with chakra forced into it. Obito's eye can see the outline of the door hidden behind the stone wall. I keep running and the children part for me. Their eyes hold one last glimmer of hope, one last chance of survival.

I jump up and my swords cuts deep into the stone right where the door is outlined. I focus chakra to my feet so that I can balance on the wall. I drag the sword over the top outline and down the side. The fire has reached the bottom floor.

I pull my sword out of the stone and quickly place it in my holster on my back. I focus all my remaining chakra to my right hand and slam my arm through the stone. I'm so drained, my body is so close to failing. The only thing that keeps me going is the screams of pain from the children that got trapped on the above floors, the children burning to death with every passing second. My newly improved Chidori, the Raikiri, cuts a hole through the cold stone at its weakest spot. The stone crumbles away to reveal the door that she hid. I quickly push it open, not a second too soon.

The castle crumbles apart as I push my way through. I hear the scurrying of feet behind me as the children desperately try to escape the shattering stones. They fall down all around us, like rain and hail of nature's most furious storms. I run, stumbling and tripping, as far away as I can.

Finally the roaring of the falling castle begins to dull and the stones stop raining through the sky. I stop running and so do the children behind me. They collapse to the ground, gasping for breath.

Slowly I turn around to see the ruins of Hogwarts. Black smoke rises, blocking out the setting sun, casting eerie light around the destroyed courtyard. The stench of burning flesh reaches my nose, the vile smell almost causes me to retch but I calm myself. I can't let that happen, not now, not never.

I scan over the courtyard. Around myself there is scattered a hundred or so children, some sitting, some standing, some crying, some frozen in shock. I look to my right, about two hundred yards away stands Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape; surrounded by about fifty or so children.

My eyes meet Dumbledore's. Grief swallows is eyes, grief that breaks my heart, shatters my soul.

I failed them, hundreds of children are dead. They're bodies burning in the crumpled remains of this great castle. This happened because of me. I came here and now so many have died. Innocent children murdered because I couldn't protect them, I couldn't save them.

Faint voices reach my ears, a song carried as a whisper upon the wind:

_"Did you ever know that you're my hero?  
And everything I would like to be,  
I can fly higher than an eagle,  
Cause you are the wind beneath my wings."_

Black dots dance in front of my eyes as the welcome grip of unconsciousness creeps up on me. I waver on my feet as I see Albus, Minerva, and Severus all run towards me. Blackness engulfs me and I stumble, falling to the ground. Someone catches me, perhaps Dumbledore perhaps not. It doesn't really matter.

I let my mind go blank as unconsciousness steals me from the waking world, takes me away from this bitter reality.

My eyes snap open as someone knocks on my door. I'm still here, the castle is still standing, no one has died.

It was just a nightmare, a dream, nothing more.

The knocking continues but I make no move to get up off the couch to answer the door. However, I do pull up my mask with my left hand before letting it fall off the side of the couch again.

Mikoto uncurls herself from in front of the fire and makes her way to the door where she stands on her hind legs and uses her front paws to twist the doorknob and open the door.

The door squeaks open and Mikoto drops to the floor. Whoever is on the other side pushes the door the rest of the way open.

I stare into the relaxing flames of the fire, not bothering to look up. I already know, just from the chakra, that it's Dumbledore.

I set of tiny paws scurry across the stone floor.

"Pakkun!" Mikoto shouts, "Get back here!" she continues in Japanese.

I sigh, turning my head to face Dumbledore and pushing myself up into a sitting position.

I rub a tired hand through my wild hair, "Stupid pup," I mutter.

I bite my thumb and perform a few seals before placing my hand on my lap. Immediately Pakkun appears underneath my hand. I grab the scruff of Pakkun's neck with my right hand and use my left hand to flick him in the nose.

"Don't do that," I snap at the dog in Japanese before picking him up, by the scruff of his neck, and dropping him on the stone floor.

Mikoto walks over and takes Pakkun in her mouth, also by the scruff of his neck, and carries him into my room. Using her left hind leg to shut the door behind her.

I look up to face Dumbledore again, "Yes?" I ask.

"You weren't at dinner," the Headmaster simply replies, shutting the door behind me.

"I don't eat in front of others."

I rub my aching left eye, trying to relieve the pain.

"Why?" he questions.

"To eat in front of others would require me to remove my mask."

"Very well," he responds, "I can arrange to have your meals sent here if you wish."

I nod, "Don't send lunch though," I add, "I never eat lunch."

He doesn't leave. I blink, rubbing my left eye again, "What else?" I finally ask.

I just want to go to sleep again.

"There's a meeting in a few minutes in my office for some of the staff to meet you. It would probably be beneficial if you were actually there," he replies with a smile.

I resist the urge to sigh in annoyance as I stand up and walk over to the table. I grab my hitaiate and put it on, pulling the left side over my eye. I grab my gloves off the table and also put them on. I pick the katana holster up off the ground and slip it on, tightly tying the straps on. I grab my katana, still stained slightly with blood from earlier, and slip it into its holster on my back. I walk over to the door and grab my vest off the edge of the couch and also put it on.

"Is it really necessary to put everything on?" the old wizard asks.

I nod, "You never know what you might run into."

He turns around and walks out of my room. I fall into step behind him, shutting the door tightly behind me.

He leads me down the twisting hallways and moving stairs. I'm getting use to this suffocating atmosphere now. This overwhelming chakra no longer seems quite as overwhelming as it first did.

We reach the gargoyle and it swings open without having to hear the password. I guess it just recognizes Dumbledore automatically.

I step on to the moving stairs behind Albus. We wait in comfortable silence until we reach the door. He opens it and steps inside his office and I follow behind.

"Have a seat," he motions to one of fourteen chairs situated in a half circle around his desk.

I walk over and lower myself into the chair at the far end of the circle, furthest away from the door. Dumbledore sits down behind is own desk.

Within the next fifteen minutes the other thirteen chairs are filled with other staff members. Two I recognize, McGonagall and Snape, the others are unknown to me.

"Well then," Dumbledore begins once everyone is comfortably seated, "Since there are a couple new teachers this year lets begin with introducing ourselves. Please state your name and the class you're teaching or the position you're filling. Who wishes to start?"

Dumbledore looks expectantly around the circle but no one offers to go first.

"Very well," Dumbledore continues with a smile, "I'll go first and then we'll follow the circle starting on my left."

I nod along with a few others.

"I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster," he nods to the next in line.

"Filius Flitwick," a tiny man, so tiny his legs don't even hang over the chair he's sitting on, with gray bushy hair and beard states, "Professor of Charms, Head of Ravenclaw House."

"Minerva McGonagall, Professor of Transfiguration, Head of Gryffindor House."

She was teaching flying before.

"And yes," Minerva adds, looking directly at me, "I was substituting for Madam Hooch's flying class earlier today, she has fallen a little ill."

The woman sitting beside me nods. Is she Professor Hooch? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

"Remus Lupin," the wizard with graying light-brown hair beside McGonagall states, "Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Pomona Sprout," a chubby witch with shabby earth-covered robes and a patched and frayed hat over her curly and frizzy gray hair pipes up, "Professor of Herbology, Head of Hufflepuff House."

"Cuthbert Binns," a ghost floating above his chair drawls, "Professor of History of Magic."

Since when did I cease to become surprised by the presence of ghosts?

"Rubeus Hagrid," a very tall and very wide wizard states, the chair he sits on is bigger than the others, "Keeper of Keys and Grounds, gamekeeper, Professor of the Care of Magical Creatures."

"Aurora Sinistra," the witch beside Hagrid, looking quite nervous, states, "Professor of Astronomy."

"Severus Snape," the black-haired adult from earlier says as he looks directly at me, "Professor of Potions, Head of Slytherin House."

His eyes hold such hatred, such resentment at the world and his life. They bore into my own eye. It feels almost as if he's looking into my mind. I bite my lip and block my mind from entrance. I might be over reacting but I'd rather be safe and make sure that no one can look into my mind, if these people even have that ability.

"Sybill Patricia Trelawney," the next witch, the one with a strong stench of some sort of perfume on her, whispers, "Professor of Divination."

"Septima Vector," the next witch in line states, her voice sounding ridiculously loud compared to Trelawney's voice, "Professor of Arithmancy."

"Argus Filch," the short man beside Vector says in a low, rough voice, "Caretaker."

"Poppy Pomfrey," a tall thin witch states in a cheerful voice, "Nurse."

"Madam Hooch," the witch beside me, the one who has 'fallen a little ill' states in a slightly stuffed up voice, "Professor of Flying.

"Kakashi Hatake," I state in my thick Japanese accent, remembering that my surname comes last here, "Assistant Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Every set of eyes falls on me. It's clear that I'm the only one here who is new. The others might have new positions but they've all been here for years. I'm the only new one.

They stare at me and for the first time since they've all entered this room I can sense the suffocating chakra again. The power in this one room is stronger then the power in half of the shinobi population in Konoha.

"And where are you from?" Madam Hooch questions in a very relaxing, comforting voice.

"Konohagakure, the Hidden Village of Leaves," I state, "from overseas."

"This is the professor that's assisting me?" Remus asks Dumbledore.

Albus nods.

"But he's just a kid," Remus continues to protest and then turns to face me, "How old are you anyways?"

"Fourteen."

I can see the shock in most of their eyes, the disbelief at my age.

"He may be young," Snape's voice cuts through the silence, "but he is skilled. He healed Stephen Cornfoot's potion burn easily with no wand."

"He did what?" Pomfrey exclaims, "How could you let him? You know nothing about him!"

"He killed someone earlier today," Professor McGonagall calmly states, "So I don't think you have to worry about his maturity Remus."

Remus Lupin opens his mouth to speak but he's cut off before he even begins by Trelawney's faint, yet demanding voice.

"This child brings death upon us all. This child brings pain and suffering wherever he goes."

"Don't start Trelawney," Minerva mutters.

"He holds pain within that will cause the deaths of many others," Trelawney continues.

"Everyone either dies or causes the death of others according to you," Severus rudely states, "and it never comes true."

"Now, now," Dumbledore's soft voice cuts in, "there is no need to…"

A soft tapping on the window behind me interrupts Dumbledore and all eyes, except mine, turn to the source of the noise.

I can sense the chakra of the familiar bird, it's the eagle that I sent the head with earlier. The speed of those eagles is really quite amazing.

Dumbledore waves his wand and the window opens, allowing the huge eagle to fly inside. It flies right towards me and lands on the floor in front of me. I watch, along with everyone else, as it uses its beak to untie the scroll tied to its left leg and then hands it to me before flying back out the window.

"Another mission?" Dumbledore asks.

I nod as I unroll the scroll to read the mission. Simple, a thirteen year-old girl who specializes in Genjutsu. Should I do it now or wait until tomorrow?

"Do I have to assist Professor Lupin tomorrow?" I ask, still reading the details of the mission.

"It would be preferred," Dumbledore replies.

"Then may I be excused?"

I look up at the Headmaster and he nods. I roll the scroll up and place it in my vest as I stand up and quietly exit the room. I'm fully aware of everyone's eyes staring into the back of my head but I force myself to attempt to ignore them.

I can't believe I'll be killing a second person in one day.


	4. Boggart

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaime's old friends; an eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst  
_

_**Rating: **T  
_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure.  
_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

The dawn's light has already begun to filter into my room, casting eerie shadows across the floor and couch. The bedroom door is cracked open, allowing the sun's first rays of light to make their way into the living room.

I sigh as I sink into the couch. The dancing flames from the fireplace warm my cold skin.

I stayed in the shower for too long again, the hot water ran out. I really should stop that habit of mine. There can't be anything good about it.

Her eyes held such fear right before I killed her; held a desperate wish for mercy.

I gave her none.

My blood soaked shirt and mask is still held tightly in my left hand. I'm still not sure if I should clean the clothes or just toss them in the fire. I know the smell will never quite wash out and normally I would just burn them but here I don't have an unlimited supply of clothes; here I have to plan ahead.

I toss the fabric into the dancing flames. The smoke turns black as it twists its way up the chimney. The clothes shrivel up and turn to ash.

"You can't burn every article of clothing that gets blood on it," Mikoto states as she lifts her head to stare at me.

She lays on the floor near the fire, her body flickers from colour to shade as the fire's light bounces of her fur. Pakkun lays snuggled in against her belly.

I get up and walk over to my room, pushing the door open fully and sliding a drawer of my dresser open. I pull out a shirt and a mask and slip them on over my head. I adjust the mask to make it a little more comfortable.

I walk back to the living room to be greeted to the sight of a very small, very goblin-like creature carrying a tray of breakfast food. He sets it on the table between the two doors, the table I'm standing right beside. He then disappears in a tiny puff of smoke.

I look from the food to the spot where the goblin-like creature stood, then back to the food, then back to the spot, then back…

"Just eat the food," Mikoto mumbles, her head buried in her fur, "Don't ask questions, just eat."

I look at the food. Should I eat it? Like always I don't feel hungry.

I walk over to the couch and lay down on my back, starring into the memorizing flames of the fireplace.

"Not eating isn't going to make you feel better," she states, lifting her head from her fur.

Blood still stains a tiny part of her fur, a little patch right under her right eye.

"Talking isn't going to change what I did," I nonchalantly reply, "It's not going to change the fact that I made a mistake."

"Who could've guessed she would be that strong."

"I underestimated her," a slight hint of anger, directed at myself, creeps into my voice, "I made a stupid mistake and nearly got myself, and you, killed."

"You still killed her, be grateful for that," she buries her head back into her fur.

I close my eyes, exhaustion tugging at the edge of my mind. Perhaps I can get a few moments of sleep before classes start and I have to go teach.

Loud knocking interrupts my thoughts, dragging me from the drowsy darkness of sleep. I crack my right eye open and slowly push myself up into a sitting position. The knocking continues, steadily becoming more rapid with each passing second. Someone is impatient.

I groggily make my way to the door, grabbing my hitaiate off the ground where I last discarded it and slipping it on to cover my left eye. I turn the doorknob and pull the door open.

"You don't have to knock so loudly," I state as I scratch the back of my head.

"Dumbledore said that you didn't know where my classroom is," Remus says.

I look back to see through the window in my bedroom. The light that filters through is brighter now. How much sleep did I get? An hour, maybe two, I'm not too sure but I do know it wasn't enough.

I turn back to face Remus, "Just give me a sec."

I walk over to the couch and grab my katana, still secure in its holster, and slip it on; tying the straps tightly. I pick my vest up off the ground where it slid off the couch and put it on over the katana holster. I zip it up and then walk over to the table where I grab my gloves and slip them on.

"Do you really need all that stuff?" Lupin asks as I close the door behind me and fall into step beside him.

"Would you go any where without your wand?" I question.

"No."

"Exactly. Your wand is your tool, my katana and vest are my tools."

We fall into silence as he leads me through the twisting hallways and stairs. I carefully plot out the path we take in my mind, storing it away so that I will remember it for further reference.

"We have Third Years first, a class of Gryffindors and Slytherins," Remus opens the door we stopped in front of, "the two houses don't really like each other."

"Uh-huh."

There's something different about this man, a strange pattern to his chakra signature. Something that's just…off.

A bell rings to signal the beginning of classes.

"You can observe the class for the first few days if you wish," Remus walks over to his desk and sits down, "Just to get a feel for the subject and the students."

I nod, moving to lean against the wall in the back corner of the room, "Very well."

I cross my arms as the classroom slowly begins to fill with children who take their seats. A few I recognize from the flying class yesterday while others I don't know at all.

Remus points to me, "We have a new assistant teacher, Professor Hatake."

The children all twist around in their seats to look at me. This class doesn't have that strong of a chakra field to it. All the children emit no more than average chakra levels except one, that Hermione child from yesterday…her chakra is stronger than the others, and more controlled.

"He will just be observing the class for the next few days," Remus continues, "until he feels more comfortable with the subject."

The children turn around to face their teacher again.

"Now," Professor Lupin stands up, "Today we will be learning how to approach and defeat boggarts. Who can tell me what a boggart is?"

Hermione's hand shoots up and she doesn't even bother to wait for Remus to call on her, "A boggart is a shape-shifter that takes on the form of its intended victim's worst fear."

"Correct," Remus says with a nod, "Now the best way to first learn how to deal with a boggart is to approach it in pairs. That way the boggart will have difficulty in choosing which one to frighten and also so that if one person is frightened then the other person will be less frightened since they will likely have different fears."

"Did you get that Harry?" the red-haired kid from yesterday whispers to the kid sitting beside him.

"The easiest spell to defend against a boggart is 'Riddikulus' which is simply used to turn your boggart into something funny that will make you laugh," Lupin walks over to a cupboard at the front of the room, "Laughter weakens boggarts."

He places is right hand on the latch of the cupboard, "Now who wants to go first?"

No one puts up their hand up, no one volunteers. Typical.

"Very well then, how about you Neville?"

A shy, slightly chubby kid slowly stands up and makes his way to the front of the room.

"Don't I get a partner?" he asks Remus.

"Nope," Professor Lupin replies with a smile, "that's the easiest way to beat a boggart but not the most practical. Most boggarts are faced alone so you all must learn to defeat them on your own."

The kid, Neville, gulps.

"Now Neville, what is it that you most fear?" Remus asks.

"Pro…Professor Snape."

"Who isn't scared of Professor Snape?" Remus asks, smiling, "You live with your Grandmother, correct?"

Neville nervously nods.

"Well, I'm quite sure she must wear…how should I say this? Old fashioned clothes."

Neville nods again.

"Then imagine Professor Snape in your grandmothers clothes," Remus suggests as he opens the cupboard.

Whatever shape the boggart naturally has has already disappeared by the time it exits the cupboard. It immediately takes the shape of Professor Snape.

"Riddikulus!" Neville nervously shouts, pointing his wand at the boggart.

Professor Snape's clothes change from his normal black robes to the clothes of an old lady, complete with a feather hat.

The kids laugh and I can't help but smile. My amusement is short-lived though as I hear rather loud knocking against a window at the front of the room. I look to the source of the sound to see an eagle perched on the window sill. I uncross my arms, push myself off the wall, and make my way to the window.

I reach the window, glad that no one else has yet to notice that I've moved. The children's attention to detail is lacking.

Something tugs at my conscious, forces me to turn around to face the center of the room. So I do; I've learnt to trust my gut instincts.

The boggart has changed shape and I know it's now attempting to frighten me.

Instead of Professor Snape there now lays the bloody, broken, and torn body of Sarutobi.

"Kai," I calmly state and the boggart begins to change shape again.

It rapidly forms different bodies, shinobi I know, comrades that I'm meant to protect. They're broken bodies lay before me; Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, Genma, Shikaku, Fugaku, Inoichi, Tsume, Ibiki, even the young Hayate and Anko.

Does this boggart, this object, really think it can strike fear in me? I know these people aren't here, I know these people aren't dead.

"Kai," I state, a little louder and a little more forceful then before.

The boggart changes shape again but not into someone else. No, this time it becomes a black fog, a floating inky substance.

It flies towards me and stops right in front of my face. A few moments of silence go by and then the boggart changes shape again.

For fuck sakes, if I only had a wand I could get rid of this stupid thing. Using the Genjutsu dispel only seems to force it to change shape, not defeat it.

It takes the form of Rin, then Obito, and finally Arashi-sensei. I stare into the lifeless blue eyes of the dead Yondaime.

I thank God that Arashi died a clean death, not a bloody gory death like Rin and Obito.

He opens his mouth to speak but then closes it again.

I turn my back on the boggart, open the window, and untie the scroll off the eagle's leg. I close the window as the eagle flies away.

I turn around, "You're still here?"

Those blue lifeless eyes just stare at me.

"You know," I address to Remus, "someone with a wand might want to get rid of this thing for me. Unless of course, you all wish to stare at my dead teacher…in that case just keep it around as long as you like."

"Does it not…"

The boggart begins to change shape again, cutting off Remus' words.

My father comes into view, a bloody katana in his hand and a gigantic whole where is vital organs should be. Blood soaks is clothes, reminding me of a moment in time I would much rather forget.

I know that the others, even the most idiotic kids, will be able to realize that this man the boggart has changed into is my father. Our resemble is uncanny, we look like the same people except for his tamer hair and older age.

"Professor Lupin," I say, a little louder then normal, "again I ask that you get rid of this thing. I'd rather not stare at the dead body of my father. It's a little…how should I put this? Odd."

No one does anything and I resist the urge to throttle this stupid teacher. I focus my chakra into my right hand. If I can't dispel this boggart then I'll just destroy it. I punch through the body of my father and it disappears.

The boggart falls to the ground, taking it's original shape; only cut in half.

I raise my right hand up to my face and look at it, "Black blood…interesting."

I wipe my hand on my pants and then return to the corner in the back of the room. I tuck the scroll into my vest and fold my arms back over my chest.

"Now then," Remus begins with a small smile, "What we just saw was a confused boggart. Professor Hatake here either has no fear or is very talented in hiding his fear. This caused the boggart to become confused and change shape multiple times in order to try and find the thing that would strike fear into Professor Hatake."

"Did he just destroy the boggart?" the red-haired kid asks.

"Well yes, I believe so," Lupin answers, "How did you manage that Professor Hatake?"

"Raikiri."

"Pardon?"

"It's a jutsu. A large mass of chakra in my hand," I pause, "Sorry…I should've said magic not chakra."

The bell rings and the kids get up to leave. How long are these classes? Did that boggart really take up that much time with me?

"Professor Hatake," Remus waves his hand to call me over.

I uncross my arms and push myself off the wall.

"Yes?" I question when I reach his desk.

The children have all left by now and none from the next class are here yet.

"You did a remarkable job in confusing the boggart but was it really necessary to destroy it like that?"

"What was I suppose to do? You made no move to dispel it for me and in case you haven't noticed I don't have a wand, I can't do the magic you do here," I pull out the scroll the eagle gave me earlier.

"What is that?" Remus leans over his desk to try and see.

I unroll it, "A mission."

Something seems odd, something foreboding about this particularly mission. My mouth opens slightly in shock but my mask hides the motion from Remus.

Beside the name Toshio there's a picture of a child I recognize, the child from the shower room who spilt poison on his arm. What did Severus say his name was? Oh yah…Stephen Cornfoot.

Besides the picture is his vitals; eleven years old, missing for one year, member of the Kaguya clan.

The Kaguya clan? Isn't that the clan that can manipulate their bodies skeletal frame?

"Oh shit," I mutter, completely forgetting about Remus.

"Kakashi?"

"Do you know where this kid is right now?" I ask, desperately trying to keep my panic in check.

If this kid is like any of the other shinobi from the Kaguya clan that I've fought then I'm fucked and so is this school.

"Why do you want to know?" Remus ask.

"This isn't time to bullshit around," I spit out as I hand the scroll over to the Professor Lupin, "I know it's in Japanese but look at the picture. Does it look familiar?"

"Why, it's Stephen Cornfoot," Lupin replies, "but why is he on your mission report?"

I push my hitaiate up to reveal my still closed left eye, "Are you really that blind?" I ask.

"Do you mean to say that he's one of the people you've been sent here to deal with?" Remus asks as he looks up from the scroll to search my eye.

"He's a missing-nin masquerading around as an incompetent First Year student," I state, taking the scroll from Lupin, rolling it up and placing it in my vest, "A missing-nin of the Kaguya clan."

"The Kaguya clan?" he questions as children start to fill up the classroom.

"A clan with one of the most powerful bloodline limits," I nervously shift my katana so it sits a little more comfortably on my back, "they can manipulate their skeletal frame and regenerate their own bones. They can rip their bones out of their bodies and use them as weapons while regenerating them immediately after."

"They can…"

"And his already seen me," I mutter to myself, unintentionally interrupting Remus, "He already knows that I've been weakened from earlier."

I snap my left eye open to search through the walls of the castle.

"But I have an advantage now too," I murmur, "I know his chakra signature."


	5. Toshio and Rie

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaime's old friends; an eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst  
_

_**Rating: **T  
_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure.  
_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

I perform a series of quick seals as soon as I spot the familiar chakra signature. Unfortunately what I expected to happen doesn't happen at all. Instead of disappearing and reappearing in another area, like I had expected, I get an unexpected feeling of suffocating; of air pressing all against me and squishing me.

"You can't Apparate here," Remus informs me, "there's an ancient spell against it."

"Apparate?" I question, turning to face the Lupin.

"Teleport," he explains, "I don't know what you call it but we call it Apparation. It can't be done within the borders of Hogwarts."

"Fuck," I mutter as I turn around to locate the chakra again.

It's gone, "He knows I'm looking for him," I mutter.

A vision flashes in front of Obito's eye; a child's throat being slashed.

I bolt out of the door and run down the hallway in a pathetic attempt to trick my mind into thinking that I'm actually taking action even though I have no idea what to do.

"Kakashi!" Remus shouts after me but I ignore him.

I scan the castle. The Sharingan struggles to see through the thick chakra that coats every inch of this place.

I feel the chakra lessen just a tad around me.

"Kakashi!" Remus repeats, now behind me.

"I was too late," I mutter under my breath.

"What do you mean?" the professor asks as he stands to my right.

"He's already killed someone."

"How do you know?" Remus asks, his voice holding a slight hint of skepticism.

"For fuck sakes," I reply, "Isn't there anyone here who can sense the insane amount of chakra that's within this castle? Every single person emits chakra, the stronger you are the more chakra you have. When you die your chakra disappears. The chakra in this castle lessened which means someone died, or is near death if you're one of the optimistic type."

"Why does it seem that Trelawney's prediction is coming true?" Remus murmurs.

"If there wasn't so much chakra I'd be able to see where he is," I mutter as I shut my right eye in attempt to focus my Sharingan more.

I spot him, the floor below me. I open my right eye, run to the nearest stair railing, and vault over it; landing in a crouched position on a railing in the floor below.

A kid screams and I whip my head to face the direction of the sound only to realize that the scream is shock from me, not because of Toshio. I sigh in relief to find that Toshio has not injured another person.

I snap out my right hand to catch a very smooth, very white spear; a spear made of bone.

My eye traces the path the spear took to find a hole in a classroom at the end of the hall. And there stands Toshio, leaning against the wall and a child's blood on his hand.

He holds out his bloody right hand and a series of small bones shoot out of his fingertips towards me, cutting through bodies on the way to get to me.

I grab a handful of shuriken from the holster on my leg and through them. They hit the bones and deflect them harmlessly away.

The children in the halls flee; running away in terror.

I jump down from the railing and face Toshio, "There is no need to drag these children, this school, into our fight."

"Oh but there is," Toshio responds with a gleeful smile, "Hurting you is no fun because you don't fear death. But to hurt others in front of you, when you can't protect them, is once of the best pastimes ever. Or so my father told me."

"Neither of us knows much about the magic used here, we can't afford to drag the teacher's into this for their magic could kill both of us."

"Both of us can dodge their spells," he jumps onto the railing, "they travel ridiculously slowly."

He steps off the railing and I vault over the same railing to follow him, pulling out my katana on the way down.

I land in a crouched position, my left hand catching me and my right hand tightly grasping my katana. I roll to the right as another spear digs into the ground where I used to be.

Now on my back I grab the tip of my katana with my left hand so that the sword is held horizontally in front of me. I use it to block the sharp katana, made of bone, that Toshio uses to attack me.

I bring my knees into my chest and then kick my legs out to push Toshio off of me.

I duck as a spell whizzes through the air, it hits Toshio and is sword is knocked from his hand. I run towards him and bring my sword down…he backs away just in time and the blade only catches cloth and a tiny bit of flesh on his chest.

"Stay out of this Snape!" I call out to the professor behind me.

Toshio smiles as a rib pokes through his chest and he grabs it, pulling it out to form another sword.

He disappears and I straighten up from my hunched over position. I slowly turn around, trying to decipher his chakra signature from everyone else's.

I knee digs into my back and I drop to the floor, my sword slipping from my grasp.

Toshio presses his bone sword against my neck, "Another reason to stay here is that the amount of chakra in this castle renders your Sharingan almost completely useless."

The sword presses down against my neck.

"This was too easy," Toshio mocks, "Where's this great son of the White Fang that I've heard so much about?"

His sword cuts through a picture from the wall as I focus chakra to my feet to keep myself balanced where the picture used to hang.

Toshio straightens up, "Kawarimi no Jutsu," he turns to face me, "A simple yet effective technique."

He disappears again but I now know that all he's doing is moving at an incredible fast speed.

A small bone whizzes through the air past me and strikes Professor Snape's right hand, forcing him to drop his wand. Another bone, shaped into a knife, cuts the fallen wand in half.

"Wizards can't do anything without their wands," Toshio's voice floats to my ears.

I jump off the wall and over the railings to land on the floor below; the main entrance area. The area is open and many children are wandering around, wasting time instead of going to their next class.

Toshio stands in the middle with a blonde-haired boy, the one that was in yesterday's flying class, held hostage. His sword pressed against the boy's neck.

I sense the chakra from multiple teacher's as they make their way here. He holds up his left hand and a series of small bones fly from his fingertips again, cutting into the hands of the teacher's and causing them to drop their wands. Again he cuts the wands in half, rendering them useless.

His motions are incredibly fast, the path of the bones almost impossible to keep track of. Even Obito's Sharingan struggles to follow his actions.

My eye's widen in shock as a circle of glass, or maybe ice, forms around the children and I while keeping the teacher's on the outside.

"Ice Walls," a black-haired girl walks to stand beside Toshio.

"This is Rie," Toshio smiles, "my tool."

The children, terrified for their lives, press their backs against the ice walls that imprison us in here.

"They're resistant to magic spells," Rie informs me, "the perfect way to protect us from wizard interruptions."

"Hold still," Toshio spits at the kid struggling in his grasp, "or I'll just kill you now."

What should I do? Should I summon Mikoto? Will she be able to do anything?

The air around me grows cold and the same walls that trap us now start to form around me. I jump up and over the forming walls to escape them. I can't let myself get trapped or else everyone in here will die.

She uses the water vapour in the air to create her walls. She must be from the Hidden Mist Village.

Toshio presses his small katana against the child's next, breaking skin.

The sword cuts into my neck but I stab a kunai into Toshio's stomach and his grip slackens slightly. I use the slight distraction to my advantage and duck out of his grasp and roll forward.

"Kawarimi," he states with a smile as I turn around and straighten up to face him again.

I feel my warm blood pour out of the deep cut in my neck; not deep enough to immediately kill but I know if I don't end this fight soon I'll die from blood loss.

"I thought you didn't care about people you don't know or haven't been ordered to protect," Rie says.

I open my mouth to speak but no sound comes out; my vocal chords have been nicked.

I spot Dumbledore behind the ice walls muttering some sort of incantation in an attempt to get through. I catch his eyes and shake my head.

This is my fight, a fight between shinobi. Wizards shouldn't get involved and besides, the walls won't break for his magic.

No, Rie's jutsu is a kekkei genkai that won't easily be defeated.

I quickly perform a few seals and summon Mikoto who appears underneath my hand. She looks up at me then at her surroundings.

"We're in Hogwarts," she states in Japanese.

I nod.

"You can't talk," she observes.

I nod again.

"Enough of this slow-paced fighting," Toshio pulls out the kunai imbedded in his stomach, "I'm getting bored, aren't you Rie?"

"Let's see what the son of the legendary Sakumo is really capable of," she answers.

Her hands flash in a series of seals, almost too fast for Obito's Sharingan to follow, and the water in the air around us begins to collect together to form hundreds of tiny little needles.

"This isn't good," Mikoto says.

If I could talk I would tell her to shut-up and flee but I can't so instead I desperately look around for a way to protect myself. It's then that I notice that not all the needles are pointing towards me but that many of them are pointing towards the children.

Rie stops creating seals and smiles at me. The needles begin to fly through the air.

I franticly perform the seals to the Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and clones of me appear huddled around the children that are trapped within the ice walls. I drop to my knees and cover Mikoto. The needles cut into my skin but just as the last needle starts to fly towards me I use the Kawarimi no Jutsu to switch places with it.

Now behind Rie I quickly use the Chidori, no longer having the chakra to use the Raikiri, and punch my right hand through her. I feel my hand tearing through skin, bones, and muscle until it reaches the heart. It cuts through the heart and exits out the front of her body.

Her warm blood flows across my arm and part of her heart is grasped in my hand. My clones disappear as the final needles cut into their bodies and defeat them. Each needle prick, each jab of pain the clones felt is transferred to me and I'm render motionless as my brain tries to register the onslaught of pain.

Unable to move I'm completely vulnerable and Toshio takes advantage of that fact. He rips out a bone from his arm and cuts into my own right arm, just below the shoulder. He breaks through skin and muscle and cracks the bone.

Fiery pain shoots up my arm and I pull out of Rie's body with a sickening sucking sound. Her body collapses to the ground as I grab Toshio's arm with my left hand, stopping the swords destructive path through my bone.

Her heart slides out of my hand as I jump backwards and land in a sliding crouched position, left hand tightly clutching my bleeding right arm.

The Ice Walls disappear, with Rie no longer alive there's no one left to keep the jutsu going. But Toshio immediately creates a wall to stop anyone from interfering; a wall made of his own bones sprouting out from the ground.

I straighten up, wavering slightly on my feet. My chakra is almost completely gone and I know that I can no longer defend myself.

Toshio's makes four sharp bones grow out of his right elbow, parallel to his arm, and runs towards me.

My vision blurs but I make out Mikoto jumping in front of me, growling and barking at Toshio. She runs towards him and jumps directly at him.

His arm pierces her body, entering through her abdomen and exiting out of her lower back. She digs her claws into his body and clamps her teeth on his right shoulder, a few piercing into his lower neck.

He falls to his knees, ripping his arm out of Mikoto's body and prying her jaw off his should and neck. She keeps on fighting, pushing him to the ground and using her claws to dig into his skin.

His ribs break out of his chest and pierce into her body.

His ribs retreat back into his body and he pushes Mikoto's lifeless body off of him.

"You don't live up to you father's legend," he slowly stands up and smiles at me, "You're nothing but a disappointment."

He runs towards me, the bones still sticking out of his right arm. I watch helplessly, unable to focus my vision or make my body move.

Suddenly my Sharingan becomes clearer, more focused, it's easier to track his fast movements. Have I developed another tomoe?

I bite my bottom lip. I can't die here, I can't let him win. He'll kill everyone in this castle, he'll kill everyone he can before he's stopped. There's only one thing I can do now, only one last hope. I can open the Celestial Gates(1) but I know I can't do anything if I just open one, or even a few. I need more chakra, I need to get rid of my body's natural chakra limit system.

I need to open the first five Celestial Gates, even if it might cause my death.

He gets closer, only inches away, only a few seconds left to act.

I close my eyes for a split second. Opening first the Initial gate, then the Heal and Life gates, now the Harm gate, and finally the Limit gate. I feel my organs racing to keep up, my body already beginning to fail at my increased chakra.

My body can barely handle my normal chakra, this is going to destroy me.

I snap my eyes open and he's right there, his arm pierces through my abdomen, cutting into my stomach and exiting out of my back. He stares at me, eyes mocking and smiling. He thinks he's won.

I focus my newfound chakra into my right hand and the Raikiri, the jutsu that can cut through anything, forms. I lift my right hand, smiling under my mask, and punch him; disintegrating every cell that the Raikiri touches, including the heart. The four bones retreat into his arm and the bones around us, the ones creating the wall, crumble into dust. His eyes roll back and I pull my arm out of him. His lifeless body collapses to the ground; dragging his arm out of me.

I take a few steps backwards, the gates I just opened close again. I stumble and my right arm falls limply to my side; too injured to move. I reach up with my left hand and rip of my mask.

I collapse to me knees, catching myself with my left hand, and start violently coughing out blood.

I killed them, I won, I completed the mission.

Mikoto.

My head snaps up. She can't be dead! She's protected me for so long. She can't be dead! I push myself up and stumble forwards.

"Kakashi!" Dumbledore worriedly shouts as he reaches me, "You can't be moving in your condition," he grabs a hold of my left arm in an attempt to stop me.

I shrug him off and step over the dead body of Rie. I lower myself down to my knees beside the body of my father's summoning dog, of my dog, of Mikoto.

She's lying on her left side, eyes closed, chest not moving. I place my left hand on her fur, where her heartbeat should be.

Nothing.

The ringing in my ears warns me that I'm going to faint.

The silence of her chest overrides all other sound. Dead. Gone. I couldn't protect her. My father's dog, the last remaining thread that connects me to my dad is severed.

If I could talk I would say I'm sorry. I would beg for forgiveness and plead for her life. I would scream and shout and be angry at every god that exists. But I can't talk.

"Kakashi," Dumbledore places a caring hand on my left shoulder.

I can feel my warm blood soaking my clothes, pouring down my skin. The essence to my life slipping away.

And then nothing but blackness. I welcome unconsciousness. I let it take me away from this bitter reality.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**(1) Celestial Gates: **Also known as "The Eight Gates", "The Eight Inner Gates", or "The Eight Chakra Gates"

The basis for the idea of the chakra gates comes from the body's limits on the functions within it. This makes the body much weaker, but it keeps the body from expiring too soon. By opening these gates, the user can surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own bodies.

- From **_wikipedia_**

**Author's Note: **I decided to use "The Celestial Gates" as the name because it just sounds way cooler than any of the other names. You can wikipedia the Eight Gates under "Taijutsu in Naruto" and you can get the names of all the Eight Gates and what they do.


	6. The Credit

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaime's old friends; an eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

The light blinds me, forces me to shut my eyes. After a few minutes I brave cracking them open again. This time I slowly open them up all the way.

White.

I frown, white ceilings are never a good sign. White ceilings mean hospitals, they always have no matter where you are.

I hate hospitals.

How long have I been out? Wait…more importantly, how come I'm awake? Did I not just open up five, count that, **five**, Celestial Gates? With my body's inability to sustain my natural chakra how did it manage to hold together to sustain the chakra of five Celestial Gates? And how did I manage to survive that? I should be dead.

This has happened way to many times for my liking.

You know, I've decided that solo S class missions are not for me. Group S class missions I'm fine with, but solo, I'm just not that strong. To fight another S class shinobi again, alone, here, would surely be the death of me.

Unless there really is some sort of God out there that wants me to stay alive.

Mikoto. What happened to Mikoto? She was there, wasn't she? I'm pretty sure I summoned her.

Dead…she died? Yes…yes, she died. Died trying to protect me.

What happened to her body? What happened to Toshio and Rie's bodies? They have to be burnt, their heads sent back to Konoha. And Mikoto's body has to be burnt too.

Pakkun. Is Pakkun alright? Has anyone been taking care of him? I don't know. I don't know if anyone else even knew, or remembered, that Pakkun was here.

I push myself up to a sitting position. I wince as fiery pain shoots up from my stomach. I look down and pull up my shirt, with my left hand, to examine my stomach. I gingerly remove the bandages; swollen, red, stitched up and infected. How not fun. I carefully replace the bandages over the wound.

I reach up with my right hand to find that my mask is not where it should be. It's then that I remember the injury to my right arm. I look down at my shoulder to see the bandages that cover the wound that I sustained there. I reach over to the small night table by my bed, grab the crumpled mask that lies there, and put it on.

I sigh as I push the covers back and swing my legs over the bed. I look over to the opposite wall and see that the moon's light is shining through the windows, casting an eerie glow throughout the silent room. I slip my feet into my shoes, placed neatly beside my bed, and walk to the door; every step echoes off the walls and back to me.

The doors push open with little resistance and even less effort. I don't know this part of the castle, I haven't been here before.

I most definitely have developed another tomoe in Obito's eye. Everything I see with the Sharingan is clearer. The chakra imbedded in the walls, floors, and air no longer hampers the Sharingan's sight.

Some part of my mind, a distant, unconnected part, is telling me to close my eye and stop using the Sharingan. It's trying to rationalize with me, attempting to inform me that I don't have enough chakra right now to use Obito's eye.

I ignore that part of my mind.

The Sharingan searches through walls and floors until it finds my room. My feet take me there without me even needing to think about it. My body finds the way on it's own as I let my mind stay fuzzy and unthinking.

It's so much easier to deal with guilt, grief, and murder if you don't have to think about it. If I can just pretend I never did it, pretend it was someone else, then it's so much easier to deal with it.

Sometimes I wonder just how insane I really am.

My body freezes as I spot three forms, three people; two boys and a girl. Only Obito's Sharingan can see them, my normal eye can't. I know they're students, I know they're children, I know they know who I am. How could they not? After what I did everyone must know who I am, everyone must know that I'm a murderer by now.

I walk over to them. They don't move, they don't try to leave. They're wearing some sort of coat. I guess they think they won't be caught, I guess most people wouldn't be able to see them. It must be the coat, they're all huddled underneath of it. The coat must make it so that the naked eye can't see them.

I stop right in front of them. I can hear they're stifled breathing, they're pitiful attempts to make no sound. They'd be horrible assassins. They breath too loudly, too panicky. I pull the coat off of them.

So it is the coat that makes them invisible to the naked eye.

They stare up at me, wide-eyed and terrified. A brown-haired girl, a brown-haired boy, and a red-haired boy. They look like they're about to shit their pants.

"What's your names?" I hold the coat up to look at it..

"Her…Hermione Granger."

"Harry Potter."

"Ro…Ron We…Weasley."

I smile under my mask. They're all so innocent, so terrified, so afraid.

"You're not going to hurt us, are you?" the girl's meek voice reaches my ears.

I fold the coat up and give it to the brown-haired boy, the one named Harry.

"Go back to your dorms," I walk pass them, "and don't let me catch you in the halls again," I call back.

The sound of feet against stone floors echoes off the walls. Every step has the exact same length of pause between them…the exact same distanced traveled. I find myself at the door to my room, hand placed lightly on the doorknob. For some reason I don't feel like going in.

I don't feel anything.

I turn my back to the door, I listen to my footsteps as they reverberate off the walls. Slowly I make my way towards the entrance doors and when I reach them I push them open.

The fresh air sends chills up my spine. It's probably too cold for me to be out in my present condition but I really don't care. I wander around aimlessly for quite some time. I'm not sure how long because I don't keep track; I stopped keep track of time when Obito died.

I find myself standing at the edge of a lake. The crystal calm water reflects the black, starless night of the sky.

"It's not the same Obito," I whisper, "to talk to you here instead of the Memorial Stone."

I shove my hands into my pockets, "I'm not cut out for solo S class missions. I know you probably think I am but I'm really not."

A fish jumps in the lake, causing ripples to form and slowly make their way to the shore.

"It always ends up like this; everyone dead and me left alone. Me left with just me, and I never even liked me in the beginning, and I definitely don't like me now."

My voice starts to break, the guilt of what I did, the murders I committed, comes crashing down on me.

"I killed two children. A boy and a girl, both eleven. One was from the Kaguya clan, you know…that clan that can use their bones as weapons. Nearly killed me, I had to open five of the Celestial Gates," a few tears escape my eyes, "The girl was from the Hidden Mist Village…at least, I think she was. She had a very powerful kekkei genkai. Could use the water vapour in the air to form ice to make walls and needles and such."

My voice catches in my throat.

"If she lived longer she probably could've learned to create insane weapons with that kekkei genkai."

Silence.

"Mikoto died," I finally force out, "Dad's dog is dead…now I have to train Pakkun."

The wind whistles through the nearby trees. I hear thunder in the distant, a far of storm is making its way here.

"Pakkun's not old enough, he won't be for a long time yet."

Another fish jumps. I stay silent until the ripples hit shore.

"I developed another tomoe in your eye…it's clearer now, easier to track things."

Silence.

"I miss Arashi-sensei," I lower myself to my knees and lean on my hands, "He'd know what to do, he'd have the right words to say."

Sobs begin to choke off my voice, "He'd be able to take away this guilt."

Silence. I watch my tears fall to the muddy ground.

"He…he was always able to make me feel like a kid again…at least somewhat."

I hear thunder crashing; distant, far off. It will be a long time until the storm reaches here.

"Kakashi?" a familiar caring voice questions.

"Tell me Albus-senpai," my hands clench into fists on the ground, "How do we know that we're fighting for the right side? How do we know we're on the good side? How do we know we're not the evil ones?"

Something feels off about this powerful old man…something's not quite right about his chakra.

He sighs behind me, "It's easier for us, we're fighting against a man we know is evil…a man who's only desire is complete domination."

Silence. He's not as strong.

"You're fighting for your own village, against other villages."

"And every village is just fighting for their own reasons, their own benefit," I finish for him.

Silence. He's chakra isn't strong enough to be him.

"I fight those whose hitaiates show a different emblem…but they're no different then me," I squeeze my eyes shut, "They just kill those they're ordered to kill…they just serve the leader of their own village."

"You're fighting for what you believe is right…and in the end that is all that really matters."

"Voldemort fights for what he believes in…does that make him right?"

"He knows what he's fighting for, and he's content to live his life fighting for it."

Silence. It's not even him.

"Do you know what you're fighting for?"

The question cuts into my heart, mentally drains me, emotionally destroys me.

"No."

I've never known what I'm fighting for. I just fight, I just kill, because I'm told too.

I highly doubt that talking to myself, having a full conversation with myself, is a particularly sane action to partake in. But then again, since when have I ever considered what I do sane or insane I guess the biggest issue is the fact that I'm hallucinating…yes, hallucinating is much more of a worry for me. At least…it should be.

Perhaps hallucinating a conversation with Professor Dumbledore is a sign that I should actually talk to him. But then again, when have I ever done something that I should probably do in regards to my own health?

Okay…now I'm no longer talking to a hallucinated figure of Albus Dumbledore but to my actual mind. Does that make me even more insane? Well, if it does it can't make me much more insane then killing children does…could it?

Asking myself questions that I don't have the answers to is not a good idea. All it does is frustrate me.

I lean back to sit on my heels and wipe the tears from my eyes. The wind blows my hair wildly about my face as thunder crashes nearby. The storm is getting closer.

I wonder how painful seppuku really is. Father didn't seem to be in that much pain when he did it. Maybe it's so painful that the brain actually stops the nervous system from registering. I guess I could try it and find out for sure. It would kind of be pointless to kill myself here; I wouldn't get any sort of funeral and it would be too much of a shock for everyone back in Konoha. Plus, they wouldn't get any closer since there wouldn't be a funeral. Does anyone back in Konoha, besides Sarutobi, actually care if I die?

I don't really think this is rational thinking. But then…if I'm not thinking rationally then how will I be able to determine if what I'm thinking is rational or not?

I stand up as the wind finds openings through my clothes and breathes, like cold ice, on my skin. Another fish jumps in the lake but I turn my back on the water before the ripples reach the shore. The figure of Dumbledore stands before me but I walk right through him. God, how cheesy is this hallucination?

I make my way back to the castle, letting my feet lead my back to my room on their own.

I've become numb again. It's a scary place to be…a place I don't want to be.

I find myself in my room, not remembering how I got here or what path I took. The moonlight is starting to fade into the predawn darkness.

A fire steadily burns in the fireplace, the light touching softly on my eyes. I lower myself on to the couch to sit beside Pakkun. He crawls into my lap…big, black, wet eyes staring with concern into my mismatched black and red eyes.

"Wondering if seppuku is really that painful and if I should just try it and see," I mutter to no one but the empty stillness of the room, "is not a rational thought."

It's not reality. My ability to judge reality is shattered…it always has been, it always will be. I think those people who try to kill themselves and fail are at this point. They think they can kill themselves by taking too many pills or drinking too much. But they don't take quite enough and they become permanently brain damaged, but still live. Their perception of reality is abnormal and shattered.

It's not **real.**

When I'm fighting someone, contemplating purposely making a mistake and killing myself, there are voices in my head chatting; _This is irrational. People love you. You are not alone._

But my reality is skewed. It's not** real** reality. I can sit here and list the people who I know would be devastate if I died, but I'll still think about making that mistake or committing seppuku. Where is reality? Where is my ability to judge reality? It's been completely shattered. It no longer exists.

It's a terrifying place.

And I'm rambling. I'm rambling, I'm numb, and I think I'm going insane. But that can't be right…someone once told me that insane people don't question their sanity because they believe they are sane. Does that make any sense?

I'm beginning to confuse myself now.

Pakkun snuggles into my lap, curling up into a tiny ball of fur. If only he knew that he's soon to become a murderer like me…if only he knew.

If only I could make sense of my own thoughts.

I don't like this place. I don't like this quiet solitude. In Konoha there's always something for me to do; missions to carry out or training to participate in. Here, if I don't have a mission, I have nothing but still air and my own thoughts.

And it's never good when I analyze my own thoughts.

I can't be numb because I get like this…all analytical and theoretical on my own thoughts. But I can't be emotional either else I drive myself insane with guilt, shame, and anger. So where's the in-between? Where's the middle ground? Where's the happy medium?

They don't teach you any of this is the academy or the team training. They only teach you the physical and then give you mental evaluations and training. They skip the whole emotional part…the whole feelings part.

And that's the thing that kills us all in the end. It's the emotions that tear apart shinobi and lead to mistakes and needless deaths. It's the emotions that need to be dealt with.

But no one bothers to figure them out. No one bothers to try and find a way to ignore them and block them out. It's like no one cares about the emotional part - like everyone is trying to pretend it doesn't exist or doesn't affect them.

But it does…oh God does it ever.

I pick Pakkun up and place him on the couch. I stand up and make my way to my room where I change out of my clothes and put on new ones. The morning sun is starting to filter in through the windows.

All my weapons have been returned here. I strap on my katana holster and slide the now clean, someone must have cleaned it, sword into place on my back. I grab my hitaiate off my dresser and slip it on, pulling it down over my left eye.

Obito's Sharingan throbs in protest. It's now use to being uncovered and resents having the hitaiate obstructing it's view.

Now I'm talking to my eye as if it's another person. How much more insane can I get?

I tiredly rub my left hand through my messy hair. I can hear the footsteps of children as they slowly make their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. It must be a weekday.

I open my door and enter the winding, never-ending halls of Hogwarts. My feet lead me to the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office.

"Toffee éclairs," I whisper to the gargoyle statue and it swings open.

I step onto the moving stairs and they take me to the door. I knock quietly but there's not response. I know he's in there…I can feel his chakra, I can sense it moving around. He's in there and he's awake. I knock again, a little louder this time.

"Come in," Dumbledore says.

I turn the doorknob and push the door open, closing it behind me as I enter.

"You shouldn't be up," he states, folding his hands across the desk he's sitting at.

"I hate hospitals," even my voice sounds numb and robotic now.

Silence.

"What happened to the bodies?" I fold my hands behind my back.

"Does it really matter?" he shifts through a few papers.

There's a few scrolls sitting on his desk. That reminds me, I still have to do the mission report for the last mission.

"Yes it does matter."

He stops his shuffling and looks up, "Why?"

"Toshio and Rie's heads need to be sent back to Konoha for proof and their bodies burnt to hide the secrets they hold. Mikoto's body also needs to be burnt for it to holds secrets that need to be kept," I shift my katana into a more comfortable position on my back.

"They've been buried already," he returns to shuffling through the papers.

"Then dig them up."

"They'll be dug up by tonight," he pauses, "Now go back to the hospital."

"No."

He looks up at me, "You're in no condition to be up and about."

"I know my body, I know my limits…I'll be fine."

Silence, the he finally speaks up, "You're acting different then before."

"I'll be assisting Professor Lupin today if you need me," I walk forward and grab the three scrolls off of his desk

"Is that wise?"

"What…the teaching or the scrolls?"

"The scrolls…to take a mission so soon, is that wise?" his concerned eyes look into mine, searching for something they can't find.

"It's my duty…whether it's too soon or not doesn't matter. The missing-nins are not going to wait for me to get better," I turn and walk to the door.

"Kakashi."

My hand pauses on the doorknob.

"Do you even know what you're fighting for?" Dumbledore, the wizard rumoured to be the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, quietly asks.

I turn the doorknob, "It doesn't matter," I pull the door open and escape to the stairs.

The door shuts with a click behind me as the stairs take me down to the hall again. That question, his words…they were so close to what he asked me in the hallucination. That's probably a sign of something but I'm too drained and too tired to figure it out right now.

I tuck the scrolls into my vest for safe keeping. I'll look at them later, probably tomorrow after I've had a rest and some food.

My feet lead me to Professor Lupin's Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. I open the door and enter the dimly lit room.

The empty, dimly lit room.

No one else is here. I smile underneath my mask. Everywhere I go in this place is just full of the same empty stillness…the same quiet air…the same cold solitude.

I walk over to the back the corner, the corner I stood in before, and lean against the wall with my feet crossed. I carefully shift my katana so it's more comfortable and then cross my arms.

I don't know how long I stand here in numbed silence. I just let time keep on ticking by in it's slow progressive path. Eventually the door opens and breaks my trance-like stillness. Professor Lupin walks in and closes the door behind him.

"Glad to see you're up and about," he says as he walks to his desk, back facing me, "You got pretty injured."

I shrug my shoulders even though I know he can't see the action for he isn't looking at me.

"I know you've only seen one class," he sits at his desk and starts shuffling through a drawer, "but I was wondering if you could speak to the class today."

"About what?"

"Something inspirational…something to get the kids to think and to spark some desire in them."

"They're not as enthusiastic as you would like?" I uncross my left arm and scratch the back of my head with my hand.

"You haven't been here for the past week so you don't know how painful it's been to get them to show even a tiny bit of interest in class," he pulls out a piece of paper from the drawer and sets it on the desk.

"Very well…I'll think of something to say," I cross my arms again.

"Thanks," he looks at me gratefully, "A mysterious person like you should easily capture their interests."

I shrug my shoulders, "Maybe, maybe not."

He chuckles, "You should hear what they're saying about you. All the kids throughout the school…at meals, in class, in the halls, in the library…they're all talking about you. They've made you out in to some sort of all-powerful God rivaled only by Professor Dumbledore himself."

"They should not create such high expectations for people they don't know," I pause, "they will only be disappointed in the end," I finish as the first group of children enter the classroom.

It's the same class from when I was first here. Slowly the desks fill up with tired children muttering amongst themselves. Some notice I'm here while others don't. By the time the bell rings to signal the start of the class those who didn't notice I'm here have been informed of my presence by the other students.

"Now students," Professor Lupin rises from his desk, "Professor Hatake is once again with us today," he points in my general direction, "And he has agreed to speak to the class today."

He nods at me. I uncross my legs and arms, push myself off the wall, and walk to the front of the classroom. All the children are staring at me.

I stand at the front of the classroom, letting my gaze fall across the room as I examine each child.

Silence.

I wonder how long I can stand up here in complete silence before the students get restless. How old are these kids again? Oh yah…this class is the Third Years, the thirteen year olds.

Apparently these kids can't stand silence for long for Harry and Ron have already gotten restless and started talking. I turn to stare and them and wait patiently for their attention but they don't notice.

"Harry, Ron," I state in a mere whisper but it cuts through the silence.

They stop muttering to each other and stare up at me. They look like they're going to shit their pants, just like when I caught them in the halls earlier.

"You're ruining my dramatic pause," I smile twitches under my mask.

I shove my hands in my pockets as a few children dare to snicker and then badly cover-up the snicker as a cough.

"When I was your age," I begin after a few more moments of still silence, "I was already killing to protect my village."

I pause for some more dramatic effect. This is actually kind of fun. I even think I can get used to it.

"Actually, when I was half your age I was already killing to protect my village."

I watch calmly as their faces turn to shock and some kids start to whisper to each other. I wait for complete silence again.

"I'm only fourteen now…only a year older then you guys," I pause again, "Remember that. Whenever I do something that surprises you, something that shocks you, something you think you can't do, remember that I'm only a year older then you."

I pause for dramatic effect again.

"You can do what I do if you have the desire in your heart. If you have the will to protect that which you hold dear then you can do what I do…you can kill and learn to deal with the guilt."

I've gotten their attention now. It's kind of nice being here, so far away from Konoha. I don't have to hide myself so much because I know none of these people and in a year I won't ever see them again.

"Killing is necessary but can't be taken lightly. You need to know what you're fighting for before you fight else you will get trapped in your desire for recognition and your greed."

I shift my katana into a more comfortable position with my right hand. Wincing slightly as I lift my arm…I forgot it was injured.

"Everyone has evil in them…if left unchecked and uncontrolled it will take over. You must be careful, especially now, at such a young age."

"He's calling us young, but he's only a year older than us," a blond-haired boy whispers to his friend in the back of the room.

I could call him out and make a fool of him but I don't feel quite like it. No, I have something else I want to say. Something I just thought of…something that will make them think underneath the underneath.

"Now pay attention," my voice takes a much more serious tone now and the children stop their whispering to listen.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better," I pause to make sure the children are all listening, and they are, "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena – whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. The man who strives valiantly…who errs and comes up short again and again…"

A child at the back of the room coughs and then falls silent immediately.

"Because," I continue, "there is no effort without error or shortcoming. The credit goes to the man who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions…who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement – and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. The recognition goes to the man whose place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Silence.

"Think about it," I say in a much more cheerful tone and with a smile underneath my mask.

"Are you going to actually teach us something?" the blond-haired kid who was whispering earlier calls out.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Draco."

"Well Draco…I did just teach you something. Whether you're smart enough to learn from it or not is not my problem."

A few other kids snicker but quickly fall silent.

"What I meant," Draco continues, "is are you going to teach us any of the cool tricks you used to defeat those two people before?"

"No."

I chorus of protests come from the children.

"Silence!" my voice automatically gets louder and rises above the children's voice, effectively shutting them up.

"I will not be teaching you any 'cool tricks' because nothing about what I do is cool," I pause to make sure I pick the right words, "there is nothing cool or fun about killing another person."

I pause for another dramatic effect, "Besides…no one in this class, except Hermione Granger, has the natural magically ability to be able to do the 'cool tricks' that I know."

"What!" Draco protests, "How can a muggle be able to do more then a pure-blood?"

I chuckle and the children immediately shut-up and wait for me to explain myself.

"Draco," I shake my head in slight shock, "I can't believe you, and by the looks of it…everyone else, doesn't understand how magic works."

I turn to look at Lupin and he nods to answer my unasked question. I turn back to face the children who are all silently waiting for me to speak.

"Everybody has a magic system in them, much like the blood system," I begin, "Now where I live we call it 'chakra' instead of magic but it's essentially the same thing."

I rub my neck with my left hand, trying to relieve the tension in my muscles, "Some people are born with more natural magic and a better ability to control it. Where I come from we call those people 'Geniuses' and it doesn't matter what clan you come from, or in the case here - whether you're a pure-blood or not. Though genetics is often a factor it is not set in stone."

Thunder crashes outside, the storm has finally reached here.

"For example…my Grandfather was not a ninja, he had barely any chakra, or magic as you say, in him and no natural ability to control it. My father on the other hand was a Genius who, with the proper training he got, managed to become one of the most legendary shinobi around. I am also considered a Genius, which is why I was thrust into the war at age six. I had the chakra, the talent, the natural ability, and the gut instincts that come with being a Genius so I at least had a chance to survive well other children my age did not."

It's nice not having to hide so much here knowing that I will never see these people after this year. It's relieving, it's less stressful, it's relaxing…it's almost therapeutic.

"Hermione is the only Genius in this class…and trust me, it is not all it is made out to be. I would gladly give my natural ability over to someone else and take on the role of an innocent civilian who doesn't have the responsibility of hundreds of lives on their shoulders."

"How can you tell who is a Genius or not?" Ron asks.

"For me it is easy, I can sense the strength of every person's chakra…it comes with the heightened senses I was born with. For some people it is easy to tell if they are Geniuses…they excel in their training or they become incredibly strong. It's very rare for a non-Genius to become as strong as someone like Professor Dumbledore."

"So Professor Dumbledore is a Genius?" Harry questions.

I nod, "Yes, with his chakra he definitely is."

The bell rings to signal the end of class. The kids slowly pack their books and leave the room…it looks like they almost regret having to leave.

"Well that was the most interactive they've been since the year has started," Remus says after the last child has left.

I turn to face the wizard sitting at his desk, "It was easier then I thought it would be."

"You have a natural charisma to you, something that makes people want to listen."

I shrug, "I'm surprised they don't know how chakra works."

"We don't teach that kind of thing here…we just teach them how to use magic."

"How can you teach them to use their magic if they don't understand how it works?" I shift my katana…the pressure on my back is starting to pull on the wound in my abdomen.

Remus shrugs, "They learn magic so it can be done."

"They would learn faster if they were taught how it works and how to control it better."

"Perhaps you can start teaching them that."

I shrug, "I'm not much of a teacher."

"Well…you have a couple classes each month where you're teaching them alone so you might want to start thinking about what you want to do in those classes now."

I nod, "Do you want me to speak to the next class?"

"They're six-years…they're older than you so I don't know if they'll listen as well."

"Don't worry," I say as the first group of kids walk into the room, "I have my ways of making people older than me listen to what I have to say. After all…when I was seven I was leading teams of fourteen and fifteen year olds - I had to figure out a way to make them listen."

More kids make their way into class.

"Well…could you perhaps say that speech about who the credit belongs to again because that is a good speech. Did you think of it yourself?"

I shake my head, "Nope…it's from my old sensei, sorry…my old teacher," I quickly correct myself.

The bell rings for the start of the next class. This is actually kind of fun. It's different than what I normal have to do…a change to the routine. Maybe this is the answer to finding the middle-ground between numbness and emotion. Maybe just changing my routine every now and than, doing something a little fun and interesting, is what I need to keep myself sane.

But the three scrolls sitting in my vest weigh heavily on my heart. Scrolls that I know are ordering me to kill.

No matter how much I pretend, no matter how much I run away, in the end I'm still stuck in the same path…the only path I know. In the end I'm still nothing more than a cold-hearted, mass murderer.

In the end I will never be able to escape this.


	7. Numb

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaime's old friends; an eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

I kind of regret resorting to this method to get these children to listen to me. The older kids seem to be more of a handful then the younger kids – which is opposite to what it usually is like back in Konoha.

I tighten my grip on my katana to make sure it doesn't slip against the brown-haired child's neck.

"This is what happens when you don't listen to your assigned leader," I inform the shocked class.

"He moved so fast!" a girl whispers to her friend.

"I didn't even see him move," the friend whispers in reply.

"If this was a real mission, a real life-and-death situation, you'd be dead right now," I remove the katana from his neck and straighten up, "What's your name?"

"Cedric Diggory," he replies, rubbing his neck where a small indent is left from my sword.

I slip my katana back into its holster and suppress a moan of pain as I feel the stitches in my abdomen pull against my skin.

"Age doesn't mean anything," I rub the back of my neck to try and relieve the tension in my muscles, "There will always be someone out there who is younger and stronger. So again I feel it necessary to repeat that," I pause for heightened effect, "You must listen to your assigned leaders."

Some of the children start muttering amongst themselves. This is starting to piss me off, a lot.

My hands flash in a series of seals and in a second twenty-seven Bunshin appear, behind each of the twenty-seven students in the class, pressing a kunai against the necks of each child.

"I may be younger then you," my voice takes a much more serious tone, "but I could kill every single one of you right now."

I slowly make my way to the front of the room and turn back around to face the children.

"Professor…" Remus' slightly worried voice whispers.

"I'm very close to getting very, very angry," I inform the children, who all look like they're about to shit their pants, "and you don't want me to get angry."

The Bunshins disappear and all the children visibly relax.

"Remember, we're stuck with each other for the rest of the year. The Third Years and I get along together much better than I'm getting along with you right now."

I shift the katana on my back to try and relieve the pressure on the stitches that are holding on by a thread.

Something inside my mind snaps, a thread that I think was holding on to an important part of my sanity.

"Cedric, shut-up!" one of my kunais flies through the air directly at the troublesome student.

It freezes right before his face, the tip pressing into his brow; right between his eyes.

"Professor," Remus' accusing voice cuts through the silent air, "Dumbledore's office."

I turn around to face him, questioningly raising my right eyebrow.

"Now."

I shrug, "Very well."

My feet take me to the door, all eyes focused on me. I stop in front of Cedric and pluck the kunai from the air in front of his face.

"I'd thought you'd be able to dodge it, I guess I thought wrong," I whisper to the frightened child, "Be thankful Professor Lupin has faster reactions than you else you'd be dead right now."

I smile under my mask as I slip the kunai back into the holster on my right leg. I can't help but feel like I'm becoming slightly sadistic. I wouldn't be surprised, really, I wouldn't be. I know I **should** be but I'm not. What I should be and what I am are two completely different realities – they're not even slightly related to each other.

My body moves on its own, finds its way out the door of the classroom. I walk down the halls and make my way through the twisted path to Dumbledore's office.

I lean against the wall across from the gargoyle statue that leads to Dumbledore's office.

My breathing comes in short, quick, painful gasps as I press my right hand against my abdomen. I press against my wound in an attempt to help relieve the pain and stop the slow, steady seeping of blood that twist its way through the slightly torn stitches.

I use the only medical jutsu I know in an attempt to stop the bleeding. My warm chakra flows from my hand into my stomach and I feel the blood clotting. I sigh in relief; I caught it before it tore too much for me to heal on my own.

The bell rings and children slowly begin to fill the halls. I fold my right leg so my foot rests on the wall and cross my arms. The children walk pass me; some noticing my presence and others don't. Eventually I spot Remus as he makes his way through the sea of children. He stops in front of the gargoyle statue and I push off the wall and walk to stand beside him, cutting a path through the children.

He whispers the password and the gargoyle swings open. He steps on the stairs first and I follow behind him. We reach the top and he knocks on the door.

The whole time he avoids my gaze. The whole time he looks like he's just barely restraining himself from killing me right now. Though I doubt he actually could kill me if he tried.

"Come in," Dumbledore's cheerful voice floats through the air.

Remus pushes the door open and I follow, softly closing the door behind him.

"What brings you two here?" Albus asks, his back to us as he stands by his window looking outside.

"I request the removal of Kakashi from his teaching duties."

"What?" both Albus, turning to face us, and I ask at the same time.

"Sorry," I quickly say.

It's not my place to talk over Dumbledore and it's not my place to question the reasoning of others. If anything I should welcome it for I can barely think rationally myself.

"Remus, why?" Albus' questioning voice breaks through my thoughts.

"He nearly killed Cedric," Professor Lupin explains, "threw a dagger right at his face!"

"I thought he would dodge it," I defend myself, "If you trained these kids properly then he easily would've been able to dodge it."

Remus turns to face me, "We don't train anyone here…we teach! There's a difference, our students aren't psycho murderers like you!"

"Remus!" Dumbledore's voice cuts in.

We stand there for a few tense moments – the three of us just staring at each other.

At length I finally speak, "Well, this is a good quality long, awkward pause."

Dumbledore sighs, "Kakashi you can't use violence against the students…that's not how we do things here."

"Fine, I can try," I respond, "but the older kids aren't going to listen to me unless they know who's boss. These kids have no respect for anyone…I don't understand how you can deal with it. Such disobedience wouldn't be tolerated where I come from."

"This isn't Konoha, this isn't where you come from," Lupin speaks up, "We do things differently here."

"Remus is right Kakashi," I turn to focus my attention on Albus, "If you can't teach by our rules and our ways then you won't be teaching."

I nod, "Very well."

The bell rings to signal the start of class.

"I have to go," Remus quickly leaves the room to go back to his class.

I turn to leave also.

"Kakashi."

I turn back to face the old wizard, "Yes?"

"The bodies have been dug up…you should probably go deal with them now."

"Where are they?"

"Follow me."

I fall into step beside Dumbledore as he leads me out of his office, down the twisting hallways and stairs, and out the front door. We turn to our right and follow a dirt pathway that leads far away from the castle.

Slowly Hagrid, the very tall, very broad man that I met during the staff meeting a while ago, comes into focus. He's standing by three dug-out graves.

We reach him and the bodies of Toshio, Rie, and Mikoto are laying in a neat row.

Dumbledore stops walking a few feet away from the rotting corpses but I continue moving until I'm standing right before them. I pull my katana out from its holster and in one quick movement I behead both Toshio and Rie. I pull out two canvas bags from a pocket in my vest. I crouch down and place each rotting head in a separate bag.

"Anyone have a quill?" I ask.

Albus steps forward and hands me a quill, "You don't need any ink."

I nod, knowing that it has some sort of magical charm on it that makes it so it doesn't need to be dipped in ink.

I pull out the mission request for this mission that I completed around a week ago. I unroll it and set it on the ground so that I can fill in the bottom of it; the mission report section.

I finish and roll the scroll back up as I hand the quill back to Dumbledore. I whistle and a few moments later an eagle flies out from the nearby trees. It lands in front of me and I tie the scroll to its left leg. It then calls out and another eagle flies out from the forest.

I stand up as each eagle takes a bag in its claws and flies off.

"Stay back," I say to Dumbledore and Hagrid.

My hands perform a series of familiar seals and I take a deep breath, raise my hand to my mouth, and blow into it. Three small balls of flame, matching the three breaths I blew into my hands, emit from my mouth and land on the three bodies. Toshio, Rie, and Mikoto all light on fire - their bodies burn until nothing, not even ashes, remain.

The fire goes out as soon as their bodies are gone. I shove my hands in my pocket and turn to walk back to the castle.

"Kaka…"

"I'm fine," I interrupt Dumbledore even though I know it's not polite.

I make my way down the dirt pathway and back into the castle. I should probably return to Professor Lupin's class but I just don't feel like it. Instead I change direction and walk to my room.

I open the door and Pakkun bolts out of the room and into the hall.

"Pakkun," my cold voice cuts through the silence; my cold, shaking voice.

The pup stops and turns to face me.

"Go back inside," my voice effortless falls back into the comfortable Japanese language.

He hangs his head in defeat and returns to the room. I close the door behind me and take off my vest and my katana holster. I gingerly sit down on the couch and stare into the fireplace - the flames cause strange shadows to dance across the room.

Pakkun jumps up beside me and rubs his head against my left arm. I sigh as I remove my hitaiate and let it fall to the floor with a soft thud.

Mikoto is dead…I just burnt her body and yet I feel nothing. No sadness, no anger, no guilt nor grief.

Nothing. I'm just numb...numb and tired.

The last remaining thread that connects me to my father has finally be severed and I don't even care – I have no emotional response at all. No tears, no emotionally pain, no mental anguish.

This is scary.

Mikoto is dead and I just about killed a kid today. I don't even care. It doesn't bother me at all.

Just nothing. I don't even feel numb…not really. I just feel disconnected, like I'm not really in control of what I'm doing…like I'm not even me.

I didn't even know it was possible to feel like this.

I stand up and walk over to my discarded vest. I remove the three scrolls that I took from Dumbledore's desk earlier. I might as well get something done while I'm numb like this…I might as well kill while I can't feel the repercussions.

Pakkun jumps on the top of the couch's back and looks quizzically at me. I pat his head as I straighten up.

I hold the three scrolls in front of him, "Pick one."

He paws the one in the middle and I let the two outside ones fall on the seat of the couch. I unroll the scroll Pakkun picked and read it.

"Yamamoto Okkoto, seventeen, Genjutsu specialist, part of a group called the 'Red Hand,' originally from the Hidden Mist."

The 'Red Hand' group? Sounds interesting; very, very interesting.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come in," I say as someone knocks on my door.

A figure opens the door and walks to me, stopping in front of my desk. I look up from the papers I'm organizing.

"You asked?" the man questions.

"Severus, I need you to do something for me."

He lifts his right eyebrow in curiosity, "Yes?"

"I have a strange feeling about this Kakashi child," I begin, "I want you to find out more about him but he can't know about what you're doing. I have a feeling he would not want us to delve into his past."

"Legilimency?" Snape asks, "Is that wise? We don't know much about him. For all we know he could be very apt at Occlumency."

"It is a risk that must be taken Severus. He almost killed a student earlier today…something about that child is off and I'm trusting that you will be able to find out what."

"The thing that is off about that child is not hard to figure out. He is fourteen and a cold-blooded murderer. That, and nothing more, is what is 'off' about him."

"No Severus, there is something else. Something deeper that affects that child."

Snape shakes his head, "Dumbledore, you better not be asking me to do this simply because you wish to try and help Kakashi overcome his demons. He is not a student of yours, do not burden yourself with his health."

"Thank you for your concern Severus but it is unnecessary."

"Very well, I will try," he turns and walks to the door.

"Severus," I speak up, his hand freezes on the doorknob, "Be sure to be very subtle about it."

"Of course."

He disappears from the room, the door shutting quietly behind him. I turn my head to gaze out the window; dusk as fallen.

Kakashi already left earlier, soon after he burnt the bodies, to undertake another mission.

I can only hope that that kid isn't going to figure out what Severus is doing. I can only hope because if Kakashi does find out then there is going to be trouble. I know Severus can hold his own against almost anyone but I don't know if he could actually bring himself to hurt that child if he has too. If Kakashi attacks Severus will Severus be able to attack the kid back in order to protect himself? I don't know.

Could any adult in this school bring themselves to hurt Kakashi if necessary? Could I? I would like to believe that I could but I don't really know. To hurt a child seems so brutal, so savage, so unnecessary. And yet Kakashi easily kills other children simply because he is ordered too. Kakashi has no knowledge of the people he kills – he doesn't even know what they did that have caused them to become missing-nins. He doesn't know and he doesn't seem to want to know.

But why? Why wouldn't he want to know? Wouldn't it be easier to kill them if he knows about the horrible crimes they did? Or maybe their crimes mirror his. Maybe they're really no different than him except that they have ran away and he hasn't.

Or perhaps it is simply the fact that ignorance really is bliss.


	8. Arrows

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaime's old friends; an eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Sorry for the short chapter. It just felt like it needed to end here so end it here I did. I'm going to try and make the next chapter longer...like around the 6,000 word mark or so but we'll see how it turns out._

_Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

I'm a short-range fighter...I've always been a short-range fighter.

Okkoto is not a short-range fighter. For fuck sakes he doesn't even use Genjutsu even though it's apparently his specialty. At least, that's what the mission request said.

Yah…the mission request lied.

He doesn't use Genjutsu, he uses arrows. Big, fucking, thick, painful, arrows. That makes him a long-range fighter - a very, very far away long-range fighter.

I've never fought anyone who uses a bow and arrow before…I just never have. And I didn't really feel like finding out what it was like. Too bad I didn't have a choice.

It's dark now…and it was the middle of the afternoon when I left. It couldn't have taken me more than two hours to find Okkoto - he was ready and waiting for me. So how long does that make this fight to be? Two hours? Three hours? Four hours? I'm not quite sure. It's kind of hard for my brain to really focus.

But that's not really surprising since I have four arrows pinning me to a huge tree. One piercing my left shoulder, destroying nerves and muscles and rendering my left arm completely useless. Another pierces my right forearm, just underneath the bone. The third pierces my right thigh and the fourth my left knee. My feet aren't even touching the ground…my full body weight is pulling on the arrows in my left shoulder and right forearm.

And the fifth just pierced my right lung.

I think I can safely say that I've lost this fight.

He jumps down from the trees on the far side of the clearing and slowly limps over to me. I blink in a pitiful attempt to clear my blurring vision. I cough, blood escaping from my mouth and soaking my mask.

He stops walking, his face inches from mine. Blood stains his own shirt. After all, I might've lost the fight but he didn't get away without his own injuries.

He laughs, "So you're the White Fang's son? You're pitiful."

I make no response, I don't think I even could if I wanted too.

"You know...I'm one of the weakest members of the Red Hand. Do you really expect to defeat us alone? You should really think about getting some back-up before you come back and fight any of us."

His breath blows against my face. Black spots begin to dance around my line of vision.

"I was told to leave you alive so I shall," he smiles at me, "but it's up to you to free yourself."

He turns around and walks back to the forest. He stops right before he reaches the trees.

"Oh, by the way," his cheerful voice reaches my ears, "those arrows are poisoned."

He jumps into the branches of the forest and disappears from sight. I can feel his chakra disappears as he runs farther and farther away.

I lean my head back against the tree. The smell of blood overwhelms my senses. I know that if I don't get free soon the poison, along with the loss of blood, will kill me. But how do I get free? The arrows trap me against the tree, imprison me to my fate.

I close my eyes. How long would it take for me to die here?

What the fuck am I thinking? I'm Hatake Kakashi, Genius of Konoha, Chunin at age six, Jounin at age thirteen. I don't give up, I don't let myself die so easily.

I am a fucking fighter.

I open my eyes. Colour has fled my vision and left me with faint shades and blurry lines.

I grind my teeth together as I force my left arm to move. Muscles protest, tendons struggle to move, nerves refuse to send the message. In the end my elbow finally bends enough to allow my hand to grasp the arrow in my shoulder. I rip the barbed arrow out of my shoulder in one quick jerk.

I can't stop the scream of pain that escapes from my mouth as the left side of my body falls away from the tree. Muscles tear against the arrow in my knee as my weight pulls my body forward. I stay there, leaning forward, panting and waiting for the searing pain to reduce.

But it won't.

Faintly I hear something moving through the air and I look up to see the shaking outline of a flying arrow coming closer and closer. I lean my head to the right slightly and the arrow whizzes by my left ear.

Heat. The bark starts to burn.

The arrow was on fire.

I grab the arrow in my knee and rip it out. All my weight now rest on the arrow in my left forearm. Fire licks my face and I try to twist my body away from the burning heat but the two remaining arrows keep me trapped.

Obito's eye catches the outline of an exploding tag imbedded inside the tree I'm pinned too. How did I not notice that before? How did I not realize it was there?

Another arrow cuts through the air. I watch helplessly, to weak to move as the poison begins to destroy my body, as the arrow cuts into the trees bark.

Time seems to slow as the tip of the arrows digs farther and farther into the tree. The tips grazes the exploding tag.

The world turns black, my eyes are unable to pick up any shapes or colour. I faintly hear my own voice screaming in agony but it seems so far away. My body slams against something hard, the ground maybe? I don't know.

I don't know anything except the fact that it hurts…a lot.

I just lay still, willing the pain to go away. I don't know how long I stay here but eventually the searing pain fades slightly. I crack open my right eye, I don't even remember closing my eyes, to see a pair of boots.

The person crouches down so his face enters my line of vision.

"So you survived," Okkoto smiles, "I'm surprised."

He straightens up and walks out of my line of vision. I close my eyes, to tired to care that he's here, to tired to try and protect myself.

A sharp pain explodes from my chest as a boot connects with broken ribs and a punctured lung. I don't even bother to quiet the moan of pain that comes from my mouth as I curl into a protective ball.

"See you in hell," he whispers into my ear.

I squeeze my eyes together as tight as I can in a futile attempt to block out this painful reality. My breath comes is ragged gasp.

Every time I attempt to move my body screams in protest and searing pain rages through me.

The morning song of the forest reaches my ears; birds singing and chirping to each other. I crack open my eyes. I still can't see anything but shades and fuzzy lines. I bite my bottom lip as I push myself up to a sitting position. My left arm is completely useless, the nerves in my shoulder are destroyed. The whole right side of my body, the side closest to the exploding tag, is black, charred, and bleeding.

I stagger to my feet, using a nearby tree as leverage to help me get up.

It's morning now - I've been here all night. The poison has attacked most of my body, leaving me weak and tired. My left knee can barely take any weight and my right thigh sends shots of pain through my body whenever I step on it.

Well, at least my right leg can take most of my weight…but for how long? I guess there's only one way to find out.

I push off from the tree in the direction that I think leads back to Hogwarts. I'm not too sure though, my sense of direction has been slightly fucked up from the explosion.

For the first couple of hours I just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. The pain becomes a dull ache at the back of my mind that I can mostly ignore.

It's when I trip over a root that I should've seen that the pain comes rushing back to me. My left shoulder crashes into the ground first, taking most of my weight, and a small scream of pain escapes me.

I lay there for a few minutes, just breathing and trying to calm my nerves and racing heart.

The poison has reached my heart, I can feel it. This slow acting poison as finally attacked the one muscle that I really need to live.

I stagger back to my feet, my legs no longer have the strength to bear my full weight. I lean against the trunk of the tree and contemplate just staying here and waiting for death's icy grip to take me.

The faint outline of a castle catches my eye and I squint through the thick foliage of the forest.

Definitely Hogwarts.

I push off the tree and catch myself on the next tree. I stumble from tree to tree in a last ditch effort to get to safety. With my destination in sight my desire to live grows stronger with each step.

I reach the edge of the forest to be faced with the task of walking the rest of the way to the castle with no trees to support me, with nothing to help bear my weight.

It's just my luck that there isn't a class outside right now.

I look back the way I came. My blood stains the trees, leaves a trail for anyone to follow. How much blood have I lost? How close am I to death? And since when did I start seeing colour again? I don't remember, I can't remember.

I look back. Where am I going again? Oh yah, Hogwarts. I have to get to Hogwarts. People are there, people who can help me. I think there are anyways…there should be people there, shouldn't there?

My brain's starting to get fogging and my thoughts unfocused and confused.

I push of the tree and stumble forwards. I can't fall. If I fall now I know I won't be able to get up. Just one foot in front of the other, just put one foot in front of the other. It's not that hard, really, I do it every day. It's not difficult at all. Just one foot in front of the other.

I stumble over a rock that I should've seen. My knees crash into the ground and I let out a whimper of pain. My right hand catches my upper body so that I don't fall completely down. I stare at the charred, bleeding skin of my arm. Dirt has embedded itself in the open sores and infection has started to settle in.

I look up to Hogwarts. So close. So very, very close. I know I can't get up now, not by myself, not without something to lean on. If I throw away the last remaining thread of pride and dignity I have I then might be able to make it to the castle if I crawl. It's a last, pitiful attempt that might just work.

And so I crawl. My body screams in protest, searing pain shoots through me with every movement. Tears of pain and disgust at my weak body fall from my eyes. The salt in my tears sting the burnt skin on my face and I will myself to stop crying. I don't need to add more pain to the collection I already have.

I reach the doors and I push myself up to a standing position, leaning on the wall for support. My left leg refuses to take any weight at all and my right knee threatens to collapse underneath me at any moment. I push the doors open and enter the empty Entrance Hall.

I could collapse now, letting my body slip into unconsciousness, and just hope that someone finds me in time. Or I could struggle on and find a classroom, find a teacher that could get help.

I let the walls take the majority of my weight as I lean against them. I limp forward, unable to put any weight on my left leg. I force the Sharingan to find a classroom that is full, to find a teacher. The closes room is on the next floor.

I push myself off the wall and stumble to the stairs, catching myself on the railing before I fall. I struggle up the stairs until I reach the top. I look back, a trail of my blood has been left behind me.

How long has it been now? How many hours? How much time do I still have left? How much longer can I defy death?

My right hand grasps the doorknob and I turn it, pushing the door open.

I blink, "Severus?"

The professor turns around from examining a child's cauldron. His eyes widen in shock and surprise.

"Kakashi?" he quickly walks over to me.

My legs give out underneath me and I slide down the doorjamb to rest on my knees. I lean my head against the cold wood of the doorframe.

He kneels in front of me, "What happened?"

"Arrows," I mutter, "Poisoned, explosion, fire," I close my eyes.

"Hermione!" Snape shouts out, "Go get Madame Pomfrey!"

A chair squeaks against the ground, "Uh…uh…okay," a girl stammers and then someone runs passed me and out of the room.

I assume it's the Hermione girl but I don't bother to open my eyes and find out.

"Kakashi," I faintly hear Snape say, "You have to stay with me, okay? You can't fall asleep."

"I'm sorry," I mutter, "I'm sorry I'm not strong enough. I'm sorry that I'm never strong enough."

I let the welcoming warmth of unconsciousness take me. I no longer care if I'll ever wake up again.


	9. Memories

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **In order to recover from the deaths of his teammates a young Kakashi is given a mission to hunt missing-nins in a country overseas where he will stay in a castle with one of Sandaime's old friends; an eccentric old man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **When Snape is inside Kakashi's mind (using Legilimency__) then the writing is in italics. Also, I don't quite remember how Legilimency exactly works and I really don't feel like going back and reading the HP books and tyring to figure it out so I just kind of made it up based on what I do remember. And hey, it's my fanfic so I can do whatever I want. Ah...the powers of being an author!_

_Please excuse any incorrect grammatics and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

"Madame Pomfrey said that if it wasn't for your potion Kakashi would be dead by now."

He doesn't make a response, doesn't take his eyes off of the child lying in the hospital bed.

"Severus?"

"He's so young," he whispers.

"Don't tell me that you, Severus Snape, are becoming attached to this child," I smile.

He looks up and scowls at me, "Of course not."

He turns around and walks away, his robes billowing behind him. I watch his retreating form until he disappears out of the door and out of sight. I return my gaze to the child before me; lying prone and dieing on the bed. His pale skin matches the white colour of the freshly cleaned sheets but the right side of his face, the burnt side, stands out in stark contrast.

It's amazing that he's still alive. Whatever foe he met out there was indeed strong if he could do such damage to this remarkable child.

And this child is indeed remarkable if he can tug on the heart strings of Severus Snape.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A smell reaches my nose; a disgusting, grotesque smell. The foggy blackness around my brain begins to lift and dissipate. Am I dead? No, I don't think. I doubt Hell smells like antiseptic and medication.

Voices reach my ears but I can't really make out what they're saying, at least, not yet, not right now. I'm sure if I focused hard enough and really tried to understand the words being said then I probably could. But I'm really too tired to focus that much right now.

I should probably open my eyes, or move, or say something, or make some sort of attempt to contact the outside, living world. But I'm just so exhausted.

"Thank you for the potions Severus," a woman's voice floats through the air.

I know I should recognize it, the name that belongs to the voice is right on the edge of my mind. It's right there, ready for me to grasp and place. But I can't. Maybe if I saw her face I would be able to place her – but that would require me to open my eyes and my eyelids seem far too heavy to partake in that action.

"Is he doing any better?" a man asks.

"It's unlike you to take such an interesting in a mere child," the woman says.

"He's intriguing, that's all."

"I'm not some animal you can just examine and study," I angrily mutter.

Who does that man think he is?

"Kakashi?" the woman questions, "Can you hear me?"

"No, I can't hear you," I sarcastically reply, "I'm having a conversation with my own mind…it just happens to correspond with your conversation too. Funny how that happened, nh?"

I open my eyes. White ceiling.

It's always a fucking white ceiling. One day I'm going to buy a hospital and paint the ceilings really weird colours; like pink with orange polka dots or purple and yellow stripes. Something interesting, something different, something that isn't so fucking boring and annoying. And while I'm at it I'd make hospitals smells better too. I'd light candles or something so that every room doesn't smell like medication and antiseptic.

"I'm surprised you're already awake," the woman states.

I turn to look at her and the man is standing beside her too. Both their faces are familiar. I know that I should know them but I don't. I can't place who they are. I can't even place where I am.

"How long have I been out?" I finally settle on asking that question.

"Almost a month now," the woman replies.

Judging by the bare branches of the trees outside the windows I know it's fall; either October or November, maybe even earlier December.

So now that I know the general date I just need to figure out where I am, what I was doing, and what I'm suppose to be doing. Of course, that's far easier said then done.

"I'll go inform Professor Dumbledore that he's awake," the man says.

I watch his retreating form, robes billowing behind him, until he disappears through the door and out of the room. I return my gaze to the woman.

"What's the last thing you remember?" she asks as she turns around and pours a liquid into a glass.

I push myself into a sitting position. What is the last thing I remember? I have a few fuzzy memories of conversations I've had, of fights I've partaken in, but nothing solid…nothing I can completely picture and place.

"Sandaime telling me I had a mission that required me to learn English and travel overseas," I think out loud, "And since I'm speaking English I'm going to assume that I'm at whatever place I'm suppose to be at."

The woman turns around and hands me the glass with a foul smelling liquid in it, "You had severe head trauma so it's no surprise that you've lost some of your memory. Most of it should begin to return in the next couple days as people here will start to trigger your memories and cause them to return."

I nod, head trauma explains all this. It explains my lightheadedness, my fuzzy, slow thoughts, my heavy limbs, and my memory loss.

"Drink the potion," the woman says, "It will help with that stubborn infection you have."

The potion's smell is nauseating; makes me want to throw-up. But I know the importance of medicine, whether I wish to actually take it or not.

I bring the cup to my mouth and swallow the thick, slimy liquid. I do a mental overview of my injuries; damaged nerves in my left shoulder and left knee, torn muscles and tendons in my right forearm, left knee, left shoulder, and right thigh, and the whole right side of my body is mostly healed from the third degree burns it suffered. None of these injuries really concern me – it's the infection that is worrisome and might cause some problems.

I hand the cup back to the woman and carefully wipe my mouth clean. She hands me another potion, a less fouler smelling potion, and I drink it. It's not as thick as the other potion – it's easier and more pleasant to drink.

The door to the room opens and the woman takes the cup from my hand as I watch a hunched over man, followed closely behind by the man from earlier, walk towards me. I faintly recognize the old man, his memory tugs at the edge of my mind.

"How are you feeling?" the old man stops to stand beside my bed.

"I've been better," I reply.

Since when did I stop caring about who sees my face? I don't think I would ever trust anyone here, in this strange place, enough to let them see my face. Maybe it was simply necessary, maybe my mask had to be removed for some reason that I can no longer remember.

"Kakashi, do you know my name?" the old man asks.

I shake my head in a silent no, "But I do recognize you," I add.

"You don't seem too concerned about your memory loss," he continues.

"I've had head trauma and memory loss before…it's never been permanent," I push the sheets back and swing my legs over the edge of the bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" the woman stands in front of me with her hands on her hips.

"Out of here," I reply, "I hate hospitals."

"You're still injured and sick," she says in an annoyed tone, "You're staying right here."

"Don't try and stop me," I quietly whisper, "You're not in control of me."

I slowly stand up, testing my injured left knee and mostly healed thigh. Both injuries can sustain my body weight with minimal pain.

I turn around to face the two men, "I assume that I have a room somewhere here, correct?"

The old man nods, "Professor Snape here will show you to your room since it's located on his way to his classroom."

"Professor Dumbledore!" the woman exclaims, "It's not wise for him to leave the hospital! He is still too sick!"

"I'm quite confident that Kakashi can take care of his own health. Severus will drop off the necessary potions that he needs to take, right?"

The younger, black-haired man nods, "Of course."

I rub my left shoulder with my opposite hand to relieve the stiffness in the joint.

"Follow me," the younger man, Professor Snape, says.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape share a cryptic conversation with only their eyes, ending with a nod from the younger man. What was that about?

Severus Snape turns around and walks briskly out of the room. I quickly fall into step behind him and follow him through a twisting path of hallways and staircases. The halls tug on my mind – desperately trying to remember the memories that I've forgotten.

Snape stops in front of a door, "Your room."

I nod in thanks and place my hand on the doorknob to open it but freeze. Something feels off, I can sense chakra getting stronger behind me.

"Kakashi," Snape states.

I turn around to face him, my eyes locking onto his, "Ye…"

_I blink – confused, trying to understand what just happened. This memory, this place – I recognize it. My old house, the Hatake house. The smell of alcohol and blood reaches my nose, the familiar tinge of death._

_Is this a Genjutsu? It doesn't feel like one, it doesn't seem like one Obito's Sharingan didn't recognize it as a Genjutsu either._

_There's someone else here, someone who doesn't belong in this memory. I look to my right._

_Severus._

_Is this a kekkei genkai? Is this his kekkei genkai? Can he enter the memories of other people? Well…it's not really a question I should be asking since it's already been proven true. He's already in my mind, he's already in my memory. Whether this is a kekkei genkai or not is not really important right now. What's important right now is trying to get him out of my head._

_I look around. I know this hall, I know this memory, I know what happens next. The door opens and both Severus and I turn our heads to look to our left – to watch who comes in._

_Me. I walk in – myself as a seven year-old. Blood stains my own clothes, I forgot I had come back from my own mission that day. Funny how details like that are lost over the years._

_I watch as my frightened child-self makes his way down the hall._

"_It's probably nothing," my child-self whispers, "I'm probably just over-reacting. The blood smell is probably just because he came back from his own mission today."_

_I chuckle inside. His own mission? Oh, how naïve I had been back then. He wasn't taken missions then, he'd been disgraced…no one trusted him anymore._

_I watch as my child-self walks down the stairs. Severus follows him but I stay still. I already know what's behind that door, what sights waiting for me in my father's study. My eyes squeeze shut on their own as I hear the door squeak open._

_My child-self lets out a grief stricken wail. This was when I first saw daddy's bloody, lifeless body. This is when my world first began to crumble around me. My child voice breaks into choking sobs._

_I cover my ears in a futile attempt to block out the sobs._

_Something's different now._

_I crack open my eyes but leave my hands over my ears. A boulder, his broken body – Obito's broken body. I stumble backwards, falling on the ground, forcing my hands to leave my ears to catch me…all in an attempt to run away from this painful memory. It's too soon, too fresh. I close my eyes immediately and cover my ears again. I can't watch this memory – I can't relive the memory of the day I got my Sharingan, of the day Obito died._

_It's changed again. I open my eyes and remove my hands from my ears. The playground of the Academy. A throng of children, varying in age, standing in a circle – taunting the unfortunate child stuck in the middle. This memory, though painful, is easier to deal with then some of the other ones. The children eventually get bored with their bullying and leave the victim alone. After awhile he lifts himself off the ground – his face bloody and his arm shattered. He might be stronger then the other children but the other children have safety in numbers. He can't be older then five. _

_He's me._

_The memory fades into another one. My child-self stands in a grassy field. The sun's just rising, casting shadows across the hundreds of dead bodies on the field. My child-self stands in the center of a circle of dead shinobi. Blood soaks his clothes while tears slowly make their way down his dirty and worn face. He looks far older then his six years. He drops to his knees, not physically hurt but emotionally and mentally destroyed._

_Was this the first time I ever killed anyone? I can't remember. I think it is but I'm not too sure. I locked this memory away long ago – so long ago that I'm not even quite sure what it's about anymore._

_I watch as Jiraiya-senpai walks up to me, his own clothes stained in blood. I tear my eyes away from my child-self and look around the battlefield. I never realized how many Konoha shinobi died in this battle. Out of the sixty-something I remember taking part in the battle only seven look to still be alive. I'm amazed that I was one of the survivors._

_The memory fades out into another one. A hospital room, my father and I staring at a prone figure lying in the bed – covered to her neck in bright white sheets. I remember this day clearly – I still think it was a mistake on my father's part to pull the plug on the machines keeping mother alive._

_I didn't realize then, at seven years-old, that father wasn't thinking for himself anymore. It was the alcohol that made most of the decisions for him by then._

"_Daddy," my child-self pleads, "Please don't…the doctors say she still might wake up."_

"_There's no hope for her son," my father replies, "leave these sort of decisions to the adults."_

"_But you're drunk!" tears stream down my child-self face, "You're not thinking for yourself!"_

"_Shut-up!" my father backhands me._

"_Sakumo!" Tsunade-senpai exclaims._

_I look into the eyes of the only female of the Legendary Sannin. Her eyes hold such sadness and pity towards my father and his fall into disgrace._

"_Just pull the plug!" father yells at her._

_She nods and turns the machines off. I close my eyes - I can't watch my mother's lungs stop breathing and her heart stop beating. The quiet sobs of my child-self reaches my ears and I try to block out the sound by covering my ears with my hands._

_What I've failed to realize until now is that my hands can't block out the sound because the sound is coming from my own mind, my own memories._

_I open my eyes and remove my hands from my ears when I feel the memory changing. My child-self is at the Ramen shop with Arashi-sensei. Eating, joking, laughing. I must be around eight or so in this memory. I forgot about this memory – I forgot about this day. How many memories like these, how many happy memories have been lost to the hundreds of horrible memories?_

_The memory fades into another one. A crowd of people, all dressed in black, gathered for one purpose. Yondaime's funeral. I remember that day clearly – the sun shone brightly. I see my child-self walking up and placing a white flower in front of Arashi-sensei's picture…the first white flower of the whole village. For some reason this memory doesn't sting as much as I feel that it probably should. He taught me so much, was more of a father to me then my real dad ever was, and yet this memory doesn't really upset me that much._

_The short memory fades into yet another one. A house I sort of recognize, a room I barely remember. My child-self, at around age six – maybe seven, lays face down on the floor with someone's knee pressing into his back. How is this my own memory? I don't even remember it. How can this be my own memory if I can't remember it?_

_The older man, the one with the knee in the back of my child-self, stands up. Dragging the kid up to stand in front of him. It's then that I notice that my child-self is naked, his chest covered in bruises and welts. The man smiles at my child-self, a familiar glint of something in his eyes. Lust maybe? Or perhaps passion…I'm not too sure._

_Wait a second – I can't be more then seven in this memory and the older man must be around twenty-something. For the older man to have such a look of lust in his eyes towards my child-self is just disgusting and wrong – isn't it?_

_The man gently rubs his hand over my child-self's chest. Something tugs on the edge of my mind – a faint realization of what this memory is. That man - I remember now that he's my Uncle, my mother's brother. I watch, desperately trying to remember this memory that has slipped from my knowledge. His hand moves lower and lower down my child-self's chest. Something clicks in my mind - the memory comes flooding back to me._

_No! Not this memory! Anything but this memory! I spent so many years blocking out my Uncle's abuse – why did he have to force me to remember? Why?_

_This memory, this time…I can't let Severus see this for surely he'll tell other people. I squeeze my eyes shut in a pitiful attempt to block out the memory but it's too late now. The memory has been revived, it's come back to torture me no matter what I do to try and block it out._

Something soaks my hand and arm – something warm and stick. The familiar smell of blood reaches my nose, the tinge of death. I open my eyes. Why is Severus so close to me?

"How could you!" I scream at him as tears threaten to spill out of my eyes, "How dare you fucking do that!"

I step back – my arm makes a gross slurping sound as it pulls out of skin and muscle. I stumble backwards in shock, staring at the gaping hole in Professor Snape's abdomen.

The hole made by a Raikiri, the hole **I** made. His blood on my hands.

My back meets the wall behind me, the doorknob digging into my back. I watch as Severus' face twists from one of shock to one of pain and agony.

He stumble's backwards, hands pressing on his wound in a futile attempt to stop the torrent of blood that escapes his body. His back hits the wall opposite mind and he slides down it to sit on the floor. His blood leaves a steak on the stone and begins to pool on the floor.

He's going to die. The realization hits me like a physical blow. He's going to die because of me.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, tears escaping from my eyes.

The smell of blood overwhelms my senses. My vision tunnels until the only thing I can see is Snape's bloody body and the light of life slowly fading from his eyes.

"I'm sorry," I repeat, knowing full well that he probably can't hear me.

I faintly hear a bell ringing. Does that mean that a class is starting? Or maybe one is ending…I'm not too sure.

I hear doors opening and closing, children's voices, feet echoing off the ground and walls. Then gasps overtake the voices and silence the scuttling feet. I'm not too sure what's happening around me. I can't focus my brain, I can't make it pay attention to anything besides myself and Severus.

Eventually someone else enters my line of vision. The woman from before, the woman from the hospital wing. She kneels down beside the bloody body. Oh God…there's so much blood – too much blood. Far, far too much blood.

"Kakashi?" I faintly hear someone call my name.

"Kakashi?" the same voice repeats.

I blink and turn my head to the left. The fog around my brain clears and I find myself able to focus again.

"Kakashi?" the old man standing beside me repeats…I think his name is Dumbledore – if I remember correctly.

I open my mouth to speak but close it without saying a word. What can I say? What words could possibly redeem me?

The old man's brow furrows in concern, "Kakashi?"

"I'm sorry," I whisper, finally managing to find my voice, "I…I just…just didn't want him to…to see."

Dumbledore nods in understanding as I bit my lip – desperately trying to control my emotions.

"He was in…in my…my mind…I had to…had to get him out," I mutter, not caring if I make much sense, "All those memories. For…for so many years…I…I locked them away…forgot them….I was never…never meant to remember…never."

I need to get our of here. I need to get way from this blood, away from this guilt. But my memory of this place is beginning to return. These people – I remember now. Wizards and witches, that's what they are. If I ran now then who knows what they would do, who knows what punishment they would hand out. I'd have no chance if all the teachers in this school went against me. For fuck sakes I probably wouldn't have much of a chance if just Dumbledore went against me.

I turn to my right and begin to walk way. Dumbledore's hand reaches out and grasps my left arm; forcing me to stop.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"To clean up."

After a few tense seconds, where I don't breathe, he lets go of my arm and I continue walking. I reach the door and remember that I need a key to open it. I reach to the dog-tag around my neck and take it off, using the key attached to it to open the door. I slip the dog-tag back on as I open the door.

I take my clothes off and just let them fall on the floor. I don't even bother putting them on a bench. I know I only got blood on my arm and part of my torso but I don't care. I need to wash everything, I need to get this smell of me. I need to get his blood off of me. I need to get his breath, his smell, his touch, his **everything** off of me. I just need it gone, I need all this dirt off of me. I need clean….just clean. I need to be clean.

I walk over to a shower stall and turn the water on. The hot water runs down my skin, decontaminating it, causing clouds of steam to build up in the room. I drop to my knees, just staring at the water as it runs to the drain, following its steady path.

"I really didn't mean to," I whisper to the empty room, "I really didn't. I'm not that fucked up."

At least, I don't think I am. I hope I'm not. If I am then that would be a major problem. But I don't think I am.

But how would I know?


	10. Training

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for?__ :.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

"Going on a mission so soon?"

My hand clenches around the doorknob tighter. I don't bother turning around to face Dumbledore.

"No," I reply, "I am going outside to train."

"Why? Do you not have any missions left?"

"No…I have a lot of missions left. I'm just not strong enough to carry any of them out."

Silence…I twist the doorknob and push the door open.

"Where are you going to be training?" he asks.

"By the lake, there are some rock that stick out of the ground that I can use…if you don't mind them getting cracked a little."

"Just watch out for students," he warns.

"It's nighttime, they shouldn't even be outside."

"Some students like to think that the rules do not apply to them."

"I'll be careful."

I step outside, closing the door behind me. The sky is clear – letting the stars and moon shine brightly upon the world. I walk along one of the many beaten down dirt paths until I get to the lake and the small collection of rocks that are scattered across the ground. All of them are at least twice my height, some of them up to four times my height, and at least ten feet wide.

I push my hitaiate up to reveal Obito's eye and perform a series of seals – ten Kakashi clones appear in a line in front of me. Each of us pulls off our right glove and places it inside a pocket in out vests. We hold out our right hand out, palm up, and focus our chakra into the hand.

I think it is finally time I get around to learning Yondaime's Rasengan.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_**Four Days Later**_

It is a full moon tonight – the night I have managed to master the Rasengan. It was harder then I expected it to be…even with clones to help speed up the training. But then again, leaving Obito's eye uncovered may help train my stamina but it drains my chakra at a faster rate – making it more difficult to master the Rasengan.

Now it is time for a little different training…something I haven't done that much of – fighting on very rough water.

One of my clones stands on the edge of the lake – using the newly acquired Rasengan to stir up the water. I stand in the middle of the lake with three other clones surrounding me.

All of us have our katanas ready and are posed for attack. Now it's going to be just Taijutsu training only – just stamina and chakra focus.

One of the clones moves to attack me. I focus chakra into my feet and tense up my muscles so that I am ready to defend or attack.

And so the training continues.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**_Later_**

I stand, facing one of the rocks, left hand holding tightly around my right wrist. I think it might be cracked, or broken - I am not too sure. Either way, I can not stop this training due to a few sore bones.

I focus my chakra into my right hand, forming a Raikiri with the last remaining strength I have left. Using this jutsu now, when I'm at the brink of unconsciousness, is when I will strengthen myself the most.

I bring my right arm down to my side, left hand still grasping the right wrist that is now screaming in pain and protest. The ball of chakra in my hand gets bigger and bigger – stronger then I have ever managed to make it before.

I push off the ground, running as fast as I can towards the rock in front of me. My left hand lets go of my wrist and I bring my right arm backwards – posing it to strike the rock.

Obito's Sharingan screams a warning at me, yells at me, tells me to stop, to move, to change my current path.

Three figures stand in my way, three figures that are invisible to the naked, human eye, three figures that I'm not sure I can dodge.

I push off of my left foot, desperately trying to move to the right – it is too late for me to stop now, the chakra in my hand is too strong.

I am still too close to them, still too near to them. I jump up and do a somersault – dodging the person on the edge of the group of three. My right arms strikes through the rock – Raikiri hitting the supporting part of the rock…the part I had aimed to avoid earlier. The rock cracks as I focus chakra into my feet to stick to the rock's surface and to keep myself from falling. I place my left hand on the rock's face and push against it to pull my right arm free.

I drop down to the ground and look up at the rock. The crack is slowly getting longer and longer, deeper and deeper. I turn around and face the three people – I already know who they are. They are the kids I found in the halls before, all that time ago.

I walk up to them and pull of that stupid coat that just about got them killed.

I hear the rock grinding against itself as it slowly begins to slide apart in to two pieces – top half and bottom half. I grab the collar of the brown-haired boy – Harry?- with my right hand and I grab the collars of both the red-haired boy – Ron? – and the girl – Hermione? – with my left hand. I lift them up, that stupid coat held tightly in my right hand, and walk calmly and deliberately away from the rock as it crashes down just behind us.

I set the kids down and walk around them so that I am facing them. I fold up the coat that they use to make themselves invisible and tuck it into a pocket in my vest.

"Dumbledore's office," I state, grabbing their collars and giving them a forceful push forward.

They make their way, quietly and radiating fear, towards the Headmaster's office with me following a few steps behind – my hands shoved into my pockets.

We reach the gargoyle that leads to Dumbledore's office and I walk in front of the children. I whisper the password and the gargoyle swings open. I step to the side to let the children enter first.

We reach the door – it opens before anyone even knocks. The kids look back at me and I shrug, nodding my head to show them that they need to enter. They walk into the office and I follow, closing the door behind me.

"What brings you four here?" Dumbledore asks, looking up from the mess of papers on his desk.

"I found these three outside, they were watching me train," I reply, "I almost killed them."

He raises an eyebrow at me.

"I can tolerate a lot of things," I state, "but I can't stand it when people interrupt my training…it's one of those things that just really, really pisses me off."

Dumbledore nods, "Very well, I will deal with the students punishments," he waves me off with his hand.

I bow slightly and turn around.

"Oh, also," Dumbledore calls to me, "How is the new sword holding up?"

"Good…it's very well made – perfectly balanced," I reply.

I open the door, exit the office, and make my way to my own room.

I think it is about time I go deal with some of those Red Hand members.


	11. Details

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

Two days out of Hogwarts. I am two days out of Hogwarts and I have finally met some of these Red Hand members that my mission requests state that I have to kill. I have been through towns and villages - eating at dark and dank bars full of suspicious people – and I have just now managed to find a couple of these Red Hand members.

Well, there is more then a couple. Unless of course someone in the world considers seven people to be a couple.

This could be a challenge. But at least I have been training and getting stronger, and at least I took a two day break from training before even starting out to find these people. Which means my body is not just stronger but it is also four days rested.

I blink – Obito's eye registering that this is a Genjutsu that I have just been trapped in. It is strong, very strong…stronger then I can break on my own without first weakening it.

The forest I am standing in is shrouded in blackness…the moon that shines down upon the earth is red.

Red? This seems strangely like the Genjutsu of the Mangekyou Sharingan. But I know it's not…the power within this Genjutsu is not enough to be the Tsukuyomi technique of the Uchiha clan. At least…not from what I've been taught.

I pull my sword from its sheath and drive it in to the heart of a wolf that jumped from the shadows and attacked me. It limply falls to the ground and I pull my sword out of its lifeless body.

The air around me grows thicker as the smell of the wolf's blood reaches my nose. An owl calls out from within the depths of the forest, its voice echoes around me.

The seven members of the Red Hand that I have found here walk out from the shadow that surrounds the forest. The red moon casts an eerie red light around everything in this Genjutsu.

They must of decided upon this coarse of action from the very beginning for Obito's Sharingan tells me that all of these people are nothing but clones. I know now what their game plan is. They simply want to tire me out - where me down - from within the safety of this Genjutsu.

Because they only have their clones within this Genjutsu they can only lose up to fifty percent of their strength while I could lose all of mine and then get dragged back into the real world – where I will have to fight them all again and they will have at least fifty percent of their strength left.

It is a very good plan on their part. One that practically guarantees their success. The key to my survival is not held within beating them here and in the real world but in finding a way to escape this Genjutsu so that I will not waste my strength fighting in a world that is not real.

The seven missing-nins attack me at the same time. They all fight with only Taijutsu and I find that I can only fight back with Taijutsu too. But why? A Genjutsu can not limit ones abilities, can it?

I fight, sword blocking and attacking, never managing to break any of their defenses. The shadow grows thicker, wraps around everyone, makes it almost impossible for Obito's eye to pierce the blackness and help me.

And then they are gone, the blackness recedes. But why? My katana grows hot in my hand and I look down to it. It's melting…along with my skin.

My skin turns black and becomes liquid, melting away from my bones. My arm becomes nothing more then bones, muscle and tendons.

"Is this suppose to scare me?" I state into the still air, "I know this isn't real…I'm not an idiot."

"Oh…we know you're not an idiot," a voice floats through the air, "But we also know that your strength is no where near your famed father's."

I smile underneath my mask, "You know, the comparisons to my father and the words of disappointment are getting very old and annoying now – they don't actually affect me."

"Words might not affect you, Hatake Kakashi, but your inability to use your Sharingan in this Genjutsu has lessened your ability to pick up small details."

"Oh really?" I ask, "And what makes you say that?"

"The fact that you did not notice that the wolf you killed earlier is not actually dead – but is in fact quite alive and is about two seconds away from knocking you out."

Something hits the back of my head. My vision spins and turns to blackness - and then nothing.


	12. The Cell

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

Sound is the first of my senses that returns to me. The sound of slow dripping water landing on stone. Then smell. The smell of mold and rotting skin. Feeling is next. The feeling of cold – freezing cold. Then touch. The touch of cold stone against my skin.

Finally I brave cracking my right eye open to find myself in a completely stone cell that is barely tall enough for me to stand in. It is, however, long enough for me to lay down in. It's actually twice my length.

There is no visible door even though I know that there must be one somewhere – it just must only be visible from the outside.

I'm not the only one in here. Though I am the only one that's in here who is still alive. A body lays on the opposite side of the wall…skin so rotten away that the face is unrecognizable. I can't even tell if it's a girl or a boy.

I don't even bother opening my Sharingan eye. I can already tell that my chakra has been sealed so severely that just opening Obito's eye would completely drain me and plunge me back into unconsciousness.

Darkness envelopes this small cell…everything I see is nothing but faint shadows, faint shade changes.

I push myself up into a sitting position. Back leaning against the cold stone and my knees hugged into my chest. The water that I hear dripping is coming from a small spout in the stone wall near me. I know it is my water supply – though no cup can be found anywhere in this place.

A pile of protein bars have been neatly stacked in the corner to my right, the opposite side of the water spout. I know that this is my food supply – though hunger is not something that I'm currently worried about.

How long have I been here? I don't know. I don't even know how long I've been awake. Time doesn't seem to have any meaning here, for how can it? Everything is just blackness.

Dark and cold. That is the only thing that I can really pick out from this place. I'm surrounded by nothing more then darkness, coldness, and death.

After some amount of time has passed – I don't know how much – my stomach growls in hunger. The cell is so small that I can reach out my hands and touch the walls on both sides without even moving.

I reach out with my right arm and grab a protein bar. I slowly unwrap it, placing the wrapper beside the pile of protein bars, and take a bite. The food sticks to my dry mouth and I immediately begin to crave water.

I turn my head to stare at the faint shadow outline of the water spout on my left. There is no cup in here to use to collect the dripping water, at least none that I can see. The water drips out so slowly that it would be pointless to try and drink straight from the water spout.

So I do the only think I can think of doing in this situation. I rip a small piece of fabric off of my shirt and stuff it in to the water spout. The fabric will soak up the water and become damp – I can then suck the water out of the fabric. It is crude and shameful but it is the only method I can think of to secure my survival. And in the end that is all I am trying to do in here…just survive.

I finish forcing the protein bar down my dry throat and I wrap my arms around my legs, burying my head in my knees. I don't know how long I stay here…time has become completely pointless. I can no longer tell if my eyes are even opened or closed. It does not even matter – it is the same darkness either way.

Eventually the faint sound of dripping water reaches my ears again. The piece of fabric I stuffed in the water spout, the piece of fabric I forgot about, has become soaked completely through. I reach out with my left hand, gripping blindly about the wall, and grab the piece of fabric. I remove it from the water spout and bring it to my mouth – not even bothering to lift my head from my knees.

I slowly suck out the water, savoring the rare wetness. I stuff the piece of fabric back into the water spout after I've sucked it dry.

It has gotten to the point where being asleep and being awake are the same thing. Nothing but darkness and my own thoughts. I am not even sure if I sleep at all.

A new sound reaches my ears…the scratching of keys in a lock and the grinding of doors against stone. Footsteps echo within the small cell.

"This place stinks," a man's voice grinds against my ears – causing me to wince at the sound.

"Well there is a body decomposing in here," another man's voice answers - a deeper, older voice.

I don't even notice the smell anymore. It's become so ingrained into my sense of smell that it seems completely normal to me now.

"Hey, you alive there kiddo?" the first man, the younger man, asks as he kicks me in the shin.

I make no response. Why should I respond to these people who have imprisoned me in this Hell-hole?

"Fine, be troublesome like that," the younger man states, "You are only make this harder on yourself."

Someone grabs my wrists, my wrists that are still tightly hugged around my legs, and yanks me forwards – forces my head to look up. My right eye opens up on pure instinct but it only makes a slight difference. The room is still shrouded in darkness and I can just barely make out the faint outline of the man's face.

He smiles at me and then twists my weak body around. I don't even care what they do…what pain can they still inflict on me? Leaving me here, to be tortured by my own thoughts and the passage of time, is worse then any physical pain they can inflict on me.

He holds my wrists against the stone wall as I kneel on the floor and my back faces the middle of the room and the older man. The younger man stands slightly off to my right so that he does not cover my back.

Something rips in to my back. Pain that I was not prepared for shoots though me. The bite of the whip the older man holds strike across my back again – tearing through my clothes to get to my skin. I bit my bottom lip to stifle the cries of pain that desperately try to break out. I tense up my back and the more I prepare for the lashes the less they seem to hurt.

Finally he stops and I take a deep, shuddering breath to try and calm down the fiery pain in my back.

I cry out in surprise and pain as the whip cuts deep into my back – ripping into a lash made earlier and cutting far deeper then any of the other welts. I was unprepared and as a result the pain is unbearable and sobs of agony choke my breath. The younger man laughs.

I can faintly hear the two men talking to each other but the ringing in my ears makes it impossible for me to determine what it is that they are saying. The younger man swings my body around and pushes me into the floor – chest down.

He whispers something into my ear but I can't decipher what it is – nor do I particularly care what he said. The other man kneels down beside me and I hear him twisting the cap off of a bottle.

"This is going to make you wish you were dead," the older man says, "this will teach you a lesson."

What lesson? What are they trying to teach me? Why do they care so much about making me suffer? What did I ever do to them to piss them off so much?

A liquid pores across my back, pooling into the lashes left by the whips. The liquid feels just like water and it doesn't even hurt. What is the meaning of this?

I hear the retreating footsteps of the two men.

"Have fun," the younger one tells me as I hear the door close and lock behind them.

I lay there, completely still, waiting for something that I don't even think is going to happen.

But then my back begins to feel warm. Then hot. Then the heat begins to spread throughout my body. I start to panic. This can not be a good sign. It might not hurt right now but I have a gut instinct that it is about to hurt very, very much.

The heat turns into a fiery pain that courses throughout my whole body. My limbs thrash against the stone walls in a futile attempt to find a release for the agony. My blood feels as if it has been drained from my body and replaced with acid.

Yet again time has no meaning. Eventually the fire inside me begins to recede into a dull ache. I lay still against the cold floor, unable to determine if my eyes are closed or open.

Finally – after the pain has receded enough for me to move – I push myself up into a sitting position and return to my position against the cold wall. Hands hugging my legs to my chest and head buried into my knees. The smell of blood, my blood, reaches my nose. My shirt as been so torn by the whip that it hangs in shreds on my body. I carefully rip it completely off for having the fabric rub against the lashes on my back is more painful then letting the cold air touch my skin.

My body craves for water and I reach out to my left and grab the piece of fabric – that surprisingly managed to stay inside the water spout during my torture – and place it in my mouth. I return it to the water spout after it has been sucked dry of all water.

Time makes it slow crawl. I don't know how long I stay here. Sometimes I wonder if they've forgotten me here. I wonder if I will simple stay here until I starve – until my heart is no longer strong enough to keep on beating.

My body shudders in shock and surprise as sound reaches my ears. Screams of pain an agony break the still silence that I have become so accustomed too. I remove my hands from my knees and press them against my ears to try and block out the sounds – it doesn't work.

I don't know how long it took but eventually I realize that the voice is familiar and is, in fact, my own. My captors must have recorded it when they tortured me and it has to be playing into this room through some sort of speaker.

I crawl through the whole cell – checking every section of the walls, floor, and ceiling with bleeding fingertips and torn fingernails in an attempt to find the speaker and destroy it. I never find it and end up giving up. I return to my position against the wall…arms hugging my legs to my chest and head buried in my knees.

Time crawls on, the screams continue to torture my brain. Sleep, or what has resembled sleep for my time in this cell, eludes me.

The sound finally stops and not long after I hear the door grind open and three sets of footsteps, instead of two, enter the room.

I lift my head up and crack open my right eye. I immediately I have to shut it as light penetrates my sight for the first time in a very, very long time. After a few moments I force my watering right eye to open up and stay open. I stare at two pairs of feet wearing boots and a pair of bare feet standing in the middle. I look up to see the faces of the three people. The young man from earlier is here, but the other man – who is even younger – is new, is someone I don't recognize, and is the one carrying the lantern.

The middle person, the one with the bare feet, is nothing more then a scared little girl…no older then twelve. The older man has a kunai pressed against the girl's throat.

"This girl is from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry , her name is Naomi Worn, I believe she is a Second Year student," the older man says, "What do you have to say about that?"

I stay silent. I don't have anything to say to that and I doubt I could even talk if I did have anything to say.

The older man smiles at me, "You know, we do know that you hold the codes that we need."

I stare blankly up at him, "What…what are you talking about?" I manage to force out of my dry throat.

"Don't play dumb with us, you know what we're talking about. Now tell us the codes or she dies."

"Please," the girl pleads, "Please…just tell them the codes," a few tears make their way down her dirty face."

I just stay silent. What codes? I know no codes…at least, I don't think I do. Maybe I did at one point and have just lost that memory within this cell. Or maybe I never had them to begin with. I don't know.

"Very well…suit yourself," the older man grins at me.

"Don't…" I feebly protest, "Don't…don't kill her."

"Tell us the codes," the younger one speaks up, "And her life will be spared."

"I don't know the codes," I mutter, "I don't know what you're all about."

"Well then…that's to bad, neh?" the older man tells me, a hint of glee and amusement in his eyes.

The girl's eyes widen in shock and a split second of pain as the older one cuts his kunai through her neck. He pushes the lifeless body towards me and she collapse on me – her warm bloods pours against my body.

"We'll leave her here for you to ponder," the same, older man says.

They both leave, closing the door behind them and surrounding me in darkness again.

I stay still, letting the blood fall against my body. Eventually I push the body off of me and drag it towards the other side of the cell. I place her besides the decomposing body from before I even came in here. I cross her arms over her chest and arrange her hair in an attempt to make her look somewhat decent in death.

I crawl back to the other wall and return to my normal position of legs hugged to my chest and head buried in my knees.

Time continues on its slow crawl. Silence envelopes the room again, along with the smell of rotting flesh.

It feels like years have passed but I doubt it has been that long. Though it could be - I have no real idea how long it has been.

The door grinds open and one set of footsteps enters. The person kneels down in front of me and lifts me head up.

The person is the younger man from the time they killed that girl.

"Be quiet, don't say a word, do exactly as I say," he whispers, "and you might just be able to get out of here."

I nod and he stands up. He holds out his hand, I grab it, and he pulls me up. He turns around, still holding tightly on to my hand, and leads me out of the dark cell that has been my home for a very, very long time.

He closes the door behind us and then leads me down the dark hallways. As we walk the darkness gets lighter and lighter.

"The guards are all off getting drunk right now," he explains to me, "Since you are the only prisoner still alive right now they figured that you would not be able to escape on your own and that they wouldn't have to worry about you."

He ducks into a side hallway and pulls me with him. We walk on in silence for a long time until we reach a door.

"I'm sorry that I don't have anything for you to take with you," he tells me as he opens the door to reveal a snow covered outside world.

"Go North-West to get back to Hogwarts. There is a town about a days walk away from here."

I nod, "Thanks," my hoarse voice whispers, "But why risk your life for me?"

He smiles at me, "You fight for what I can only dream of fighting for."

I nod and turn around to attempt to make my way back to the safety of Hogwarts.

"Please," he says, "Please don't try to fight anyone from the Red Hand again without support. They have been training for years to simply fight you and only you."

The door closes behind me and I look around.

What the fuck am I suppose to do now? I'm cold, tired, worn out, half-starved to death, and my chakra is still fucking sealed. How am I suppose to get back to Hogwarts in this condition? How am I suppose to stay alive when I 'm outside in the middle of winter with barely any clothes on except pants and shoes? I have no weapons to protect myself and no chakra to use any sort of Jutsu at all.

I know that they are going to kill that kid who just saved my life and I know that they are probably going to be able to find me. Snow leaves footprints that are easy to track and easy to follow. It will not be long until they get back, realize I'm missing, and then find my footsteps and track me down.

It will not be long until I'm back in that cell again.

I take a few steps forward in, what I hope to be, a North-West direction. My slow, steady steps slowly turn into a slow jog and then a full blown run. I need to get as far away from here as I can and as fast as I can. There is no lagging around now, I can't afford to be slow.

My chakra is so severely sealed that I barely have enough to just stay alive yet I'm running as fast as I can in a futile attempt to escape a fate that I'm chained too.

I run into the safety shadows of the forest. The cold is freezing my body, cutting deep into my skin. The running is breaking the healing skin of the lashes left from the whips from a time that seems so long ago. I wonder what month it is now? I wonder how long I have really been trapped in that Hell-hole?

My running turns into slow, uneven steps as I trudge my way through the snow. The sun begins to set and night overtakes the world. How long did I run for? I look back to see the very faint outline of the building that I think was the building I was trapped in.

It starts to snow and I hug my arms around my chest in a futile attempt to keep myself warm. I stumble constantly but manage to keep on walking. I can't go to sleep now because if I do I know I will never wake up. I need to keep walking. If I keep walking I'll get closer to Hogwarts and I'll keep my body warm – at least warm enough to stay alive.

I stumble, taking a few shaking steps before falling to my knees. My body shivers violently as my breath hitches in my throat. The little bit of extra chakra I had is now gone. To keep going would almost guarantee my death but to stay here **will** guarantee my death.

I force myself to stand up and keeping walking. I don't even know if I am going in the direction I'm suppose to be going in anymore. I push through a thick wall of underbrush to find myself in a large clearing with a small house. I don't how late it is but I do know that that is a house that is before me.

I stumble forwards and, after what seems like hours, I finally make it to the door. I knock.

No one answers.

I knock again. Still nothing. I knock again and finally I hear sounds from within.

"I'm coming!" an old, angry man yells from within, "Do you know how late it is!"

The door squeaks open and I just stare at the old man standing there.

"What do you want?" he asks angrily.

My vision spins and then turns to black. Unconsciousness creeps up on me and I don't try to fight it.

I'm far too tired to fight it anymore.


	13. The Old Man

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

I crack open my right eye. Where am I now? This isn't the cell I expected to be back in. No, this is a house. But what house?

Oh yah, that house in the clearing. That house I found during the blizzard.

"So you are finally awake," an old man says.

I turn my head to the right to look at him. He is sitting in a chair beside the bed I'm currently laying in. He can't be any younger then seventy years-old.

"Thank you," my hoarse voice whispers.

"Don't mention it," he stands up and walks over to his kitchen.

This house is incredibly tiny. Everything, except the bathroom, is out in the open in this one room.

He stirs a pot, of what I assume is soup, that is sitting on his stove, "I liked you from the moment I saw you…you smelt responsible."

I raise my right eyebrow in amusement. This man is indeed old and, by the sound of it, somewhat eccentric.

"Do you know what is important in life?" he questions but does not wait for an answer, "Love, friendship, and trust. Something you seem to be missing because if you had those you wouldn't have been wondering out alone, injured, in a blizzard."

"Perhaps I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," I state.

"Nonsense child, let me talk…I have lived long, I know what I am saying," he turns to smile at me before returning to his soup.

"Love is the best gift that anyone can give anyone else," he adds something into the delicious smelling soup, "Love makes us feel safe and secure; it makes us feel comfortable and happy. It gives us inspiration and the feeling of being able to do anything we put our mind too. Love gives us support, the feeling of being needed, and everyone wants someone to need them. It makes us feel like we are important and that we mean something to someone else. Without love we would be miserable, and a lot of people are miserable because they are not loved by another and have not loved another. Love can not be bought it can only be given from the heart. It is the simplest of gifts - shared by a smile, a hug, a kiss goodnight. It can be shared from anyone to anyone else, we just need to find it and connect to it. Loving someone else teaches us to love ourselves. Everyone is worthy of love, and loving someone else teaches us that in the best way possible."

He dishes out a bowl of the soup and makes his way towards me.

"Friendship is probably the second best gift one person can give to another," he continues.

I sit up and take the offered bowl, "Is there a point to all this?" I ask.

"Now, now," he replies with an overly cheerful smile, "I'm letting you stay here so at least give me the respect to listen to my wise, wise words."

I nod as I eat a spoonful of the soup – the first real food have had in a very, very long time.

"Anyways…and the good thing is that everyone has more friendship to give out than love. Friendship is important because it inspires us, supports us, helps us, and makes us happy. Those without friends are miserable, just like those without love. Because how can you have love without friendship? You can't. The two are intertwined, one and the same. Love springs from friendship and friendship comes from the heart."

This guy is crazy. His words are cutting far deeper into my heart then they should be. They are affecting more then I should let them. But something feels odd about this man. Like I've met him before, like he knows me – or at least knows of me.

"A simple hug, a simple smile, a simple "thanks" can be all that a friend needs to make a bad day just a little bit better," he continues, oblivious to the painful memories that he is awakening in me, "Friends support friends through the thick and the thin, the good and the bad. Smiles are the easiest gifts to give. They take very little effort but they come from the heart, they come from friendship, and they brighten the day. Friends inspire us, support us, and push us to be the best that we can be. We have casual friends, best friends, acquaintances, coworkers, classmates, adult figures – they all give us friendship. Even strangers give us friendship. Simply holding the door opened for a stranger can brighten their day. You pass on friendship daily, even if you don't notice. Without friendship there would be no love and without love the world would be a miserable place to live in. Love comes from friendship, it's in friendship, it's just slightly different than the love that binds a marriage."

The empty bowl balances precariously on my lap as my mind twists around memories that have been stirred up by this eccentric man's speech about love and friendship.

"Now trust is the basis of friendship," he continues on, "and friendship if the basis of love. So therefore trust is not just the basis of friendship but also the basis of love. Without trust there would be no friendship and in turn there would be no love."

Didn't he just repeat himself there?

"Trust is the glue that holds everything together and it is so easy to give by yet so easy to lose," he takes the empty bowl from my lap, "One mistake can destroy the trust between two friends or two lovers. Trust is not earned, it is given. When you meet someone you put one hundred percent trust in them, but when they screw up, make mistakes, and lie to you, then you take some trust away. They have to earn it back. And if you don't earn the trust back and you just keep lying and losing the trust than it won't be long before you lose the friendship and the love that comes with it."

He places the bowl in the sink and starts to wash it, "It is easy to get trust and easy to lose it, but it is so hard to regain it back. Once you lose someone's trust, or trust in someone else, than it takes a long time to get it back. Trust can be lost in a moment but it can't be gained back in a moment. It takes months, even years, to regain trust. It's so simple to keep it but yet so hard to regain it. Why is that?" he does not wait for me to answer, "It is because trust is so finicky, it needs to be perfectly balance in order to work. We all need it - without trust we can't have friendship, without friendship we can't have love, without love we can't have happiness, and without happiness than we are miserable. And no one wants to be miserable."

He looks back at me, "Hey, what's wrong. Why do you look so glum?"

I look up from staring at my hands resting on my lap.

He shrugs, "You know what makes people feel better?"

I shake my head in a silent "no."

"Soup," he replies, "Soup makes everyone feel better. Want some more soup? Here, have some more soup."

He takes the dish he just finished washing and refills it with soup before I can even answer. This old man sure is strange.

He hands me the bowl, "Now, you know I'm not finished yet," he smiles at me.

I drop my gaze from him and look down at the bowl. For some reason I can't seem to keep eye contact with this old man's caring gaze.

"Love comes from friendship," he returns to the kitchen, "and friendship comes from trust. Love, friendship, and trust are the three most important and simplest gifts a person can give to another person. They're all intertwined and connected within each other; you can't have one without the other. They're all simple to give and receive yet they're also simple to lose and hard to regain. They have to be perfectly balanced with each other else they will not work. Together these simple gifts can add up to an amazingly fulfilling life - but left apart, inconsistent, and unequal they can lead to a miserable and frustrating life."

He pauses and a calm silence hangs over us for a few moments.

"What day is it?" I ask after I finish the bowl of soup.

"Now, now" the old man replies, "You don't get to ask a question until you answer one of my questions."

I look up at him, "What?" I question, "that is absurd."

"No more absurd then you knocking on my door at three in the morning," he answers with a smile.

He walks over to me and takes the empty bowl from my cold and shaking hands, "But right now you are too cold and still too sick to be staying up for much longer."

I look up at him, "I'm fine, I don't need anyone telling me what to do and how to take care of myself."

He just smiles down at me, "Look at your hands."

I look at them and even though I'm willing them to stop shaking they just won't.

"You're suffering from hypothermia from being outside in the snow for too long, you need to sleep right now. I can't believe that you wouldn't recognize that."

I blink, "There's something about you, something that is very…very…I don't actually know what it is."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure it will come to you after you have slept for a bit and gotten healthier," he walks to the kitchen and starts to wash the bowl.

I slide back down and pull the sheets back up. I close my eyes and almost immediately sleep, which eluded me for so long in that cell, overtakes me and I drift off into the comforting blackness of my mind.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I blink open my eyes. For some reason it doesn't seem so tiring to have Obito's Sharingan opened but I know that won't last so I quickly close my left eye.

The old man is sitting, reading, in a chair beside the bed I'm in. I push the sheets back and sit up.

The man lifts his eyes up to look at me, "So you're awake again…you've slept for nearly two days."

"Really?" I question in disbelief, "that's a long time."

The old man nods, "You know how you were saying there is something about me that you just can't quite place?"

I nod in a silent "yes."

"Well, there is something about you that I just couldn't quite place before but I think I know what it is now," he smiles at you, "You quite clearly represent how man's journey into the future begins in the past."

I smile, "Is this another one of your wise speeches of advice concerning life?"

He nods, "Did you know that everyone's future begins in their past? It's because the way people react to today is based on what happened yesterday. In order to succeed in life everyone needs to make mistakes so they can learn, grow, and understand the purpose and meaning to their own life. Personal mistakes help only those directly affected while historical mistakes affect everyone who is willing to listen. Mistakes that are out of a person's control can shatter that person's world. Every mistake teaches us a lesson; we just need to be willing to listen to it."

He stands up and makes his way over to the stove where he dishes out another bowl of that soup that I enjoyed so much before. Is that all he ever eats?

"Personal mistakes are the most devastating to our own lives and can change the very path that someone is on," he continues as he walks back over to me and hands me the bowl, "Divorce can destroy a child's trust and scare them, it can make them feel worthless and the cause of the divorce when they are not. Infidelity can cause a person to lose trust in love and in themselves. They could feel worthless; they may think that they're not good enough for a true marriage built on love and trust, not lies."

He sits back down on the chair, "A mistake such as divorce can cause a chain affect on the family and cause other mistakes to occur. Divorce could traumatize a child and make them angry at their parents, themselves, and even their friends. If a child, teenager, or even an adult. Wrongly directs their anger at one of their friends then they can lose that friendship. And for someone who has just experienced a divorce, whether their own or a parents, losing a friend can be just as devastating – maybe even more. Friends support each other and care for each other but if someone doesn't treat their friend with the respect, trust, and love that they deserve then they can easily lose that friendship."

"Please," I plead, memories flooding my mind, "Please… just stop."

"Tugging at your heart?" the old man asks, "That is good – I believe it is about time that you deal with your guilt over your own mistakes."

"What do you know about me?" I whisper in anger.

"More than you would think…but that I shall reveal in more time. For now, just listen."

I shake my head, "No…I don't want to listen anymore. I don't want to remember."

"People aren't perfect, they're not meant to be," he continues, ignoring me, "We make mistakes for a reason – to learn. The greatest lesson is not one we learn in school, it is one we learn from a past mistake. A parent's divorce can teach a child or teenager to love stronger and more recklessly, because it can all fall apart in a few moments. But a divorce can also cause the divorcee to lost trust and faith in love. They may fear marriage, fear opening up, and fear truly loving another because they don't want to get hurt again. They may cut themselves off from the world and wallow in self-pity, and this is where friends get involved. But someone who is angry at their spouse for divorcing them may accidentally direct that anger at their friends. If someone disrespect and gets angry at their friends for no reason then they can lose that friendship. Losing a friend by disrespecting them is a huge mistake and it can teach that person to care more about their friends and to try harder to respect them and be nicer to them. As a result, that person could learn to be a better friend from such a mistake."

"Please," memories flash through my mind, memories of mistakes that I've always wished to forget – memories of friends lost, pushed away, forgotten and betrayed, "Please…stop…just stop…please."

"You can't always get what you want; and mistakes quite clearly emphasize that point," he just keeps on saying, ignoring my pleads for him to stop, "But they also teach us that if you try hard enough, you might just be able to get what you need. Mistakes are the greatest teachers in this world; you just have to do the simple task of listening to them. Because after all; you can't teach someone who isn't willing to learn."

"Please…please," I continue pleading – knowing full well that it's not going to stop this old man from his continuous rants of 'wisdom.'

"No matter what you think everybody has accomplishments to be proud of," he says, starting a new eccentric rant, "Whether they are tiny or huge they are there and they boost our self-confidence. When you're a child and you're growing up even the smallest of accomplishments can drastically determine how confident you are as you get older. As a teenager the actions you make determine if the result is an accomplishment you can be proud of or an accomplishment you should be ashamed of."

"Why?" I question, "Why? Why are you doing this?"

"As a child growing up simple actions, such as going to the bathroom by yourself, boost your self-confidence so that you can achieve even bigger accomplishments. As you grow a little older you may be given small chores around your house, such as washing the dishes or making your bed. When you accomplish such chores you get a feeling of worth, a feeling of actually accomplishing something important that helps others. These accomplishments give you a sense of responsibility and respect for the adults in your life who have to do the same chores - only a hundred times harder and under a hundred times more stress. As you become a teenager you achieve even more accomplishments, though the accomplishments are often smaller. Things such as completing your homework, or being on time for class, are small accomplishments that add up to big rewards."

"Stop this! Just stop!" I scream in anger, "STOP!"

"When you are a baby the accomplishment of learning to walk not only boosts your self-confidence but it also allows you the freedom to explore the world and to achieve more accomplishments. Learning to walk is the first huge accomplishment that a human being makes in their lives and it is the greatest accomplishment that is ever made."

"STOP!"

"Without the ability to walk we wouldn't be able to do much in our lives. Learning to walk leads to learning to run which leads to learning to play and have fun with others. Huge accomplishments really boost our self-confidence and give us the drive and the feeling of worth needed to achieve even greater accomplishments. Graduating the Academy is an important and scary accomplishment. Not only does it signify a change from the Academy to the real world but it also signifies the change from a child to an adult. Passing the Academy gives us the confidence to move out on our own and to start making our own lives for ourselves. It gives us the confidence, the support, and the tools to live on our own in the real world. If you did not accomplish graduating the Academy then your path within the real world would be so much harder."

"I told you to stop," my voice is breaking, "why won't you just stop!"

"Many people automatically think of accomplishments as results of actions that you're proud of, but that is not always true. Some accomplishments aren't positive, but are negative, and are nothing to be proud of."

"Please…please…just stop…please."

"Such negative accomplishments prevent us from achieving positive accomplishments in our lives. Things such as failing to graduate the Academy would therefore prevent you from becoming a Shinobi. But not all negative accomplishments are huge, even small accomplishments can be negative. Something as small as not cleaning the dishes you were suppose to can prevent your parents from believing that you know enough about responsibility which could also prevent your parents from giving you the freedom you desire and believe you deserve. Small mistakes can lead to losing your privileges and your respect."

"Please…"

"Everyone has accomplishments to be proud of, but everyone also has accomplishments that they would rather forget about. Small accomplishments lead to bigger accomplishments while small mistakes can lead to bigger mistakes. Accomplishments give us self-confidence and a sense of worthiness."

"Please…" I long ago buried my head in my hands, "Please…just stop…why won't you stop?"

"Because you need to face your past…you need to face yourself," the old man replies.

"Please…"

"It is not in the human nature to accept change without question," the old man continues – ignoring my pleading voice, "With change comes fear, we all have our safety nets and we all have our comfort zones. The very first step to accepting change is to be aware of ourselves and who we are. If we are connected with our feelings then we can begin to understand what change we can, and cannot, accept in our lives."

"Just stop…please…please…"

"Being self-aware is the first step that leads to meaningful change in a person's life. You can only fully accept change if you've fully accepted yourself. If you know who you are and what you want to do with your life then you have the sole ability to accept the change necessary to get yourself where you want to be. Discovering who you are and what you want most helps you make informed decisions that will directly lead to where you end up in life. Knowing who you are teaches you to do what you want and not what others want you to do."

"Why? Just…please…why?" I know I'm just babbling now as memories overtake any sense of rational thinking that I had left.

"Our feelings help us connect with ourselves which leads to accepting the change that is necessary in our lives. Understanding our complicated and often confusing emotions helps us decipher what we really want and what we can live without. The feelings that every person experiences during different activities and difference phases in our lives helps us figure out what we need to change and what needs to stay the same."

"Please…"

"Some changes are natural, some changes everyone experiences, some changes are easier to accept and easier to understand. Other changes are more foreign, scarier, harder to accept, and more confusing. The most natural change, the one change that every person goes through, is growing up, getting older, and becoming an adult. The change from child to teenager, teenager to adult, can be confusing, frustrating, and hard. But it is the most rewarding change and the one that no one can stop from happening. Moving out is one of the most meaningful changes, it forces you to look at yourself and find out what you really want."

"Please…just stop…please."

"Change brings out the best and the worst in people, it forces them to look at themselves and find out what they really want. It's human nature to refuse change, but it's also the nature of life to have change. We can't stay in the same path forever; we can't live the same way forever. Being aware of ourselves, our feelings, and our wants, desires, and needs helps us understand what change is needed in our lives and what change isn't needed. Knowing ourselves means that we know what we want and what we don't want - it helps us understand when we are ready for the next big step, the next big change."

"Please…just…please…stop…please."

"Do you know who I am yet? Do you know, Hatake Kakashi?" the old man whispers.

He grabs a hold of my wrists with his own hands and pulls them away from my face.

"Look at me," he demands but I refuse, "Look at me," he repeats.

I look up to stare into the old man's face. His face beings to melt right in front of my eyes – his face changing into another shape…a more recognizable face.

"Orochimaru?"

The man leers back at me, his whole appearance has now changed.

"Correct," he states, "Very good - as expected of Sakumo's son."


	14. The Sannin

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

My right eye widens in shock – one of the Legendary Sannin is actually standing before me? The one who betrayed Konoha is in this room, so near to me, close enough to touch. This power, it is insane. The chakra that now emits from him – the chakra that was not there before – is incredibly strong and full of malice and evil.

"You are fifteen now aren't you? You're birthday was only a few months again – September, right?" he doesn't bother to wait for me to respond, "The last time I saw you you were not but a baby – only three years-old if I remember correctly."

He smiles at me as he effortlessly falls back into our native tongue, Japanese, "And you were already showing the promise of a Genius – from what I've heard you haven't disappointed."

I swallow the lump that has grown in my throat. This man, this Shinobi, is rumoured to be stronger then the Hokage with a malice streak that can not be matched. I know I'm still alive right now because he chooses to keep me alive. If he decides to kill me I won't be able to do anything to stop him, I won't be able to save myself.

"It is a pity that you're so young and already emotional crippled," he turns his back to me, "Words hurt you more then any physical wound ever could. You're only fifteen and you've already lost count of the people you've killed. Men, women, children, babes – it doesn't matter to you anymore. They've all formed into one mass in your mind; one blob of blood, one shrill scream of pain, one last breath of life."

Cautiously I open up Obito's eye – this place does not seem right…something seems off.

And it hits me.

"This is a Genjutsu," I whisper, "nothing more. I never escaped that cell – I never ran though any snowstorm. This is only a Genjutsu."

He turns back to face me with a broad smile spread across is face. He lifts his left hand up and snaps.

"Very good," he states as the small cabin twists into a black void and then into that distasteful cell that I'd though I'd escaped.

"You broke in here…just, just for me?" I question, "Just to fuck with my mind?"

My body is incredibly weak. The soup I thought I ate had never actually passed through my throat. It was all fake. That sleep I got wasn't actually sleep. It was all fake…nothing but a Genjutsu.

He kneels down in front of me, "You want to get out of here, don't you?"

I nod.

"Then come with me, help me, fight for me and I'll get you out of here. You know you can't escape on your own – you're too weak and too fragile. Let me help you."

I shake my head. He betrayed Konoha…he practices forbidden Justus…the things people say he's done. I just can't. I know I can't.

"What's wrong? Don't you want out of here? Don't you want to escape this darkness, this suffocating death cell? Don't you want to live, to be free, to be alive again? You've been trapped in here for months…don't you think it's time to leave?"

I nod, "I want out, I want to escape," I mutter, "But not if it means working with you. I'll never work with you."

"Why?" he asks, he looks genuinely hurt – he looks like he doesn't understand why I could possibly refuse to work for him.

"The things…the things people say you've done," I whisper, burying my head in my knees, "I can't…I just can't…I can't betray Konoha…I can't fuck up anymore."

He laughs, placing his hand under my chin and lifting my face up so that I have to look into his eyes.

"I knew it," he smiles at me, "I knew your father and Jiraiya drove that goody-two-shoes desire into you. I knew you would have to much dedication towards Sandaime to betray him. You care too much for others – whether you acknowledge that or not."

He stands up, "Besides…you're probably too strong for what I would want to do with you so it doesn't really matter to me."

"Why?" I ask, "Why did you go to all this trouble just to trap me in a Genjutsu? Why?"

"Because you are fun to torture and this way I'll have a strong, painful memory that I'll be able to use against you in the years to come – if I ever need to."

I look questioningly up at him.

"You are the son of the White Fang of Konoha, the Hatake blood runs through you and you now have the gift of the Uchiha clan – you're strong now and you will only become stronger. One day I will probably have to eliminate you so that you won't interfere with my plans but for now I am intent to let you live and watch you suffer from afar."

I push myself up into a standing position, using the cold wall behind me for support. I can feel an unexplainable anger growing inside of me…a sense of something that I can't quite place.

He just smiles at me, "What do you expect to do? Your chakra is still sealed and you're practically dead from starvation."

"Don't underestimate me," I growl between grinding teeth.

"If you can escape here," he tells me, "then I will meet you outside so that you can do whatever it is you wish to do."

He turns around and I watch his retreating form as he walks out of the cell and turns a corner down the hall.

What the fuck am I thinking? I can't get out of here. I have no chakra, I have no strength, I have no desire to put in the effort to get out of here.

Man, what am I doing? I'm Hatake Kakashi, son of Sakumo – the White Fang of Konoha, I'm not a quitter…I don't give up easily.

I push myself off the wall and stumble to the cell door. A body of a guard lays crumbled on the ground. I know Orochimaru must have been the one too kill the guard. I make my way down the silent hall, following the sent of the legendary Shinobi.

I reach a set of stairs. This place is so empty, the air so still. Around every corner and at every door stands the dead bodies of guards. Children, people no older then myself, lie – dead on the cold stone floor. Why? Just because they happened to be unfortunate enough to be guarding the halls when Orochimaru came here. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just like I always happen to be.

I slowly make my way up the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing. I reach the door at the top and push it open to find myself in the snowy outside. The cell had been underground – that I now know.

Orochimaru stands on the far end of the clearing that this place is located in. A red-head girl stands in the middle of the clearing – blocking my way to the Sannin.

"Are you Hatake Kakashi?" she asks, wasting no breath on small talk or idle chit-chat.

She speaks as if she's singing, but she's not. Her voice is as clear as a crystal calm lake and as bubbly as a creek. But it's her eyes that capture my attention – beautiful eyes full of happiness and love, yet they still hold the hard edge of someone who has seen death many times over.

"Yes," I reply after realizing that I had fallen into my own thoughts and hadn't actually answered her yet.

"Then unfortunately, I have to kill you," she states with a far too pleasant smile, "For I am of the Red Hand."

"Orochimaru!" I call out, "The Red Hand is your organization, isn't it?"

"If you survive I'll answer your questions," he replies, "until then you will just have to have some patience."

I drop to my knees, spinning around and bringing my right arm up to block. Her katana cuts deep into the flesh of my arm as my weakened body doesn't have the speed to dodge her attacks. I bring my left arm up and grab a hold of the katana, pushing on it and jumping backwards – pulling the katana with me.

It slips easily from her grasp but I don't have time to formulate a plan. In a flash she is behind me and she kicks my legs out from underneath me. I land hard on the ground, the katana flying from my hands and clattering off somewhere that is too far away from me to reach. She walks to stand in front of me.

"And you're Sakumo's son?" she questions, "Such a disappointment."

I smile, "Who said that that was all I have?"

I roll to my left, twisting my body around to tangle her legs in my own. She falls onto her back as I use her falling motion to help pull me up to a standing position. Her hands fly in a series of seals and she disappears – her body replaced by a log.

Obito's eye tracked her motion, he knows exactly where she's hiding. I stand still, focusing chakra into my right hand and making sure I track her movements within the trees surrounding us.

"Your chakra is steal sealed Kakashi," Orochimaru reminds me, "Don't try to push it or else you'll die."

"I know my limits," I reply calmly, not bothering to stop the slow build up of chakra in my hand.

"You're going to kill yourself," the Sannin states.

The base of my neck begins to feel hot – I know that's where the seal is located. The heat turns into a raging fire that passes throughout my whole body. I just stay still, continuously focusing my chakra into my right hand and tracing that girl's movements.

I collapse to my knees as my body grows weaker – I know I'm straining myself too hard but breaking this seal is the only chance of survival that I have. I hear the girl drop from the trees and run towards me from behind. I wait until the last possible moment and then I finally spin myself around and propel myself up and forwards. A raging pain explodes across my spine as the seal strains and the finally breaks…the chakra in my hands develops into a medium-strength Raikiri.

I break through her chest, her heart cut in half by my hands. Her blood spills onto my bare chest and soaks my pants. It sprays onto my face and sticks to my matted hair.

Her body slides off my arm and falls to the ground in a crumpled heap of lifeless limbs.

"It must be hard," Orochimaru says, clapping, "to live as nothing more than a mindless killer – a tool of Konoha."

"It must be hard," I reply, turning to face the Sannin, "to live as nothing more than a betrayer and a malicious tyrant."

He smiles at me, "So you are full of as much anger as I've been told. At first I thought what was said of you was nothing more than lies but now I know that they're true."

"Tell me, are you responsible for the Red Hand organization?" I ask, knowing full well that my time in the conscious world is quickly slipping from my grasp.

"They are my organization," he replies.

"Do you have anything to do with Lord Voldemort?" I question, unsure if I'm just setting myself up for death.

His smile grows larger, "That you may, or may not, find out in time. Until then I must leave you now. Hogwarts is about a weeks walk away from here – to the South and thirty degrees West."

"Do you actually expect me to trust you?" I state in slight surprise, "After what you have done?"

"That is not my problem," he replies, "But remember these words Hatake Kakashi – It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable."(1)

And just like that he's gone. Disappeared - leaving me alone in this clearing, in the snow, with that girl's dead body at my feet. I look back to her – her blood has stained the snow around her.

It is now that the cold finally registers in my brain. I have to get to shelter, or at least to warmth of some sort. My body is perilously close to failing and if I lose consciousness here I'll never regain it.

But can I trust him? Did he tell me the right direction? How do I know? I have no clue if his words are trustworthy – not that it really matters since I have no sense of direction right now and no way to know if the path I travel is North, East, South, or West.

I whistle…knowing that wherever the eagles are one will come to me – one will be able to show me where to go and get me help.

But none come.

This is not right. This is not how it is suppose to be. An eagle should come now, an eagle should hear my call.

But none come.

I clench my fists at my side. What has Orochimaru done to fuck up even the simplest of message systems?

Something clicks in my head, my slow thoughts form a realization. Orochimaru did nothing except trap me in another Genjutsu. I lift my right hand up and form the familiar Genjutsu dispel seal.

"Kai," I state.

My vision shakes a bit. The clearing stays the same, the girl's body is still here, but an eagle is here now. That is the only, but the most important, difference.

"Where is Hogwarts?" I ask the eagle.

It cocks his head and then turns around and points his beak in what I think might be the direction of East…though I'm not completely sure.

"Go to Hogwarts and get Dumbledore – I need help."

The eagle nods and flies of into the air. I watch its retreating form until it disappears into the fog that hangs in the sky.

I take a few shaking steps. My body, though it holds only one physically wound on my right arm, is weak. But that is not what worries me the most right now. No, it's the alarming numbness of my mind that frightens me. The frozen thoughts that I know, after what I've been through in that cell and with Orochimaru, should be racing at a mile a minute. But instead they're still, completely calm, completely disassociated from me.

My silver hair twists about my face in a silent dance led by the wind. My body shivers uncontrollably as the cold begins to freeze my muscles. My brain may not be able to register the fact that I'm freezing but I know that my body is terribly affected by the coldness that swallows this land.

I reach the comforting shade of the trees. The air here is stiffer, colder, more death like. Winter's icy grip is starting to wrap its hand around me – starting to choke the breath out of my lungs. My legs give out beneath me and I no longer care.

The coldness has reached my brain, numbed my thoughts and feelings, made it impossible to think logically. My brain, though sometimes irrational, has always been the one thing I could count on to get me though anything. Now it has failed me. Now my thoughts have frozen, refused to command my body to do anything.

I don't know how long I stay here, sitting on my knees in the snow. I know the sun rose and set multiple times, though how many times I'm not sure off. Sleep eludes me – maybe my brain is creating a last-ditch effort to keep me alive.

Or maybe I'm already dead, I don't know and I don't care anymore. I'm just tired. So very, very tired.

A man kneels before me, entering my line of vision. An old man, an old man that I know I should recognize. A name sits on the edge of my tongue, a name that goes with this familiar face.

And then blackness.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

_(1)"It is not only what do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable." – Jean-Baptiste Paquelin._

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	15. Chained

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatically and spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

My eyes blink open - watering in protest to the intrusion of light in the blissful darkness they've become so accustomed too.

White ceilings…again.

One day, one day I'm determined to wake up from a mission in a room that **doesn't** have white ceilings. One day.

But for now, for the present, not much can be done to change the fact that the hospital wing of Hogwarts has white ceilings.

Obito's eye throbs in protest at the sudden use. How long as it been since I've actually used his eye? More importantly, how long has it been since I've actually been awake? It seems that I'm spending more time unconscious here then I'm conscious…and that isn't a particularly good thing.

I push the sheets back, sit up, and swing my legs over the edge of the bed.

My age is brought to the forefront of my mind immediately. I notice for the first time that my feet do not touch the floor when I sit on the edge of the bed. Either people here are unnaturally tall or I'm shorter than the average person. I don't know, it's never been something that I've ever thought about before..

I slide off the bed and walk to the door. My eye catches the moon's light that shines through the window. I stop to stare into the beauty of the night. The snow falls softly through the air outside.

And then I notice that the chakra within this school has lessened considerably. Does this school have a winter break for the children or have many students just dropped out for some unknown reason?

I tear my eyes away from the window and make my way to the door. I push it open to be greeted by the silent halls of Hogwarts. My feet lead themselves on the path to my room without me having to actually think about it. Instead I focus my mind on the events of what happened to me before I last lost consciousness.

What did happen? Oh yah – the cell, Orochimaru.

"You gave us quite the scare there Kakashi."

I freeze and turn to face the man the voice belongs to.

I smile, "How long was I gone Albus-senpai?" I ask.

"Almost two months."

I nod, "So that makes it what now, December?"

The old wizard nods, "Care to tell me what delayed you for so long?"

"Nothing you need to know about," I reply, careful to keep my voice void of any emotion.

"I see," he pauses, "But like always you were not unconscious for that long – only eight days."

"Where are all the students?" I quietly ask – it feels wrong to be disrupting the silence like this.

"It is Christmas break, most of the students have gone home to their families for the holidays – though a few have stayed."

I nod. I don't actually know what Christmas is but if I remember correctly it has something to do with Western civilization…a Western religious holiday – I think. Though I could be wrong.

"Whatever happened to Professor Snape?" I finally ask after the silence has become uncomfortable.

"He is fine now, though you don't seem to concerned about him."

"I have more important thoughts to occupy my mind right now," I quietly reply.

He nods. Should I tell him? Does he need to know? Orochimaru may be joining forces with Lord Voldemort – which is the man that these Wizards and Witches fear.

"There's something that I think you need to know," I state.

He raises an eyebrow in question, "Well then?" he prods.

"They're words that are not for these halls nor the students that may be wandering them after hours. If we go somewhere where prying ears cannot hear then I can inform you of what you need to know."

"Will my office be fine?" he asks.

I nod. He turns around and I fall into step behind him. Within no time we reach his office. He sits down behind his messy desk and I stand in the center of the room.

"What I tell you here should probably be kept between us – though I know you will probably tell your closest companions about this."

He nods.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the name Orochimaru?" I ask.

He nods, "Yes, I have heard his name – from my own sources - mentioned as one of the people Voldemort had originally planned to create a partnership with, long ago. Why do you ask?"

"He is a missing-nin from Konoha…incredibly powerful and incredibly malice. If he joins with Lord Voldemort both our lands will be destroyed – no question about it."

"Well, from what I have been told the partnership fell through when Voldemort couldn't provide Orochimaru with what he wanted."

"People, bodies," I mutter, more to myself then anyone else.

"Pardon?"

"Orochimaru would want people…he partakes in experiments on living people. Horrible, painful, grotesque, inhumane experiments. He would want Voldemort to provide him with people that he could experiment on in payment for a partnership."

"Is that why he left Konoha?" Dumbledore asks, "Is that why he's a missing-nin now?"

I nod, "He left when his experiments were discovered. He's incredibly powerful, it would probably take all of the Shinobi in Konoha to even match his strength. I dare not fight him alone, I would just be signing my own death certificate."

"He's truly that powerful?" Albus-senpai raises an eyebrow in question.

"Yes," I nod, "I wouldn't recommend that anyone, not even you, should approach him on your own without any back-up. You stand a chance to beat him but still - it would be unwise."

He nods, "Very well. Thank you for telling me this. I will take this knowledge into consideration when forming my future plans. Is that all you wished to tell me?"

"Yes."

"Very well, you should probably retire to your bed now."

I nod, turn around, and exit the office. My feet carry me to my room. I slip off the dog-tag around my neck and use the key attached to the chain to open my door. I slip the dog-tag back on as I twist the doorknob and push the door open. Immediately Pakkun runs at me and jumps up. I catch him in surprise.

"Why, hello there," I state with a smile, closing the door behind me and falling into the comfortableness of the Japanese language, "Long time no see, neh?"

He barks in reply, licking my face in happiness.

"I see they've been taking good care of you," I observe, placing him down on the couch.

He barks in sadness and protest.

"Don't worry pup," I comfort, "I just need to write a letter to Sandaime and then I'll cuddle with you, okay?"

He nods and curls up on the couch. I walk over to the table between the two doors. I open the drawer and pull out a piece of parchment along with a quill and a bottle of ink. I unroll the parchment and dip the quill in the ink. I write a short letter to the Sandaime – telling him of Orochimaru's presence here, the Red Hand organization, and my fear the Orochimaru may still form a partnership with Lord Voldemort.

I roll the parchment up and make open the door to my bedroom. I walk to the opposite wall and push open the window. I whistle and a few minutes later I see the faint outline of an eagle flying towards me. After a few more minutes the eagle lands on the window sill. I tie the letter to the eagle's leg.

"Take this to Sandaime, it's for his eyes only," I instruct the eagle.

She nods and jumps off the window sill. Her huge wings open up into her full wingspan and she flies off. I watch her silhouette against the bright moon until she disappears from my range of sight.

I turn around, "Come over here Pakkun," I call out has I take off my shirt and shoes.

I here him jump off the couch and his paws scuttle frantically against the wooden floor.

I fold back the sheets of my bed and crawl in, lying on my left side. Pakkun jumps up on the bed and snuggles up against my chest. I shut my eyes and let the rhythm of my breathing lull me to sleep.

Blackness overtakes me and I slip into the comfortable silence of sleep.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

My eyes snap open to stare into the familiar leering eyes of a man I had hoped to never see again. His whole body emits a aura of extreme anger and malice as he presses a kunai against my bare neck.

Pakkun whines, burying himself underneath the sheets of my bed.

"Don't even think about sending any letters to Konoha, or anyone else for that matter, concerning me and what is happening here. I'm monitoring all the letters you're sending."

"Orochimaru," I mutter in anger as I swallow the lump in my throat, "You don't rule me."

He lowers his face so that our noses are touching, "This time I'm letting you live, this next time you won't be so lucky."

"Death doesn't threaten me," I reply coldly, desperately trying to mask the fear that is overwhelming me.

"Oh…who said anything about death?" he chuckles, "But you'll soon wish you were dead," he leans in even closer to me, "As long as you're here you're chained to me – your fate is what I decide it to be," and then he disappears,

My body jolts up into a sitting position. Sweat beads down my face as I bring my knees up and hug them into my chest. Pakkun squirms his way out from underneath the sheets and sits down in front of me. I just stare into his wide, terrified eyes.

What is he planning to do with me? What is his goal? I know I can't escape it…he's too strong for me to defeat – too strong for me to even defend against.

"I have to tell Dumbledore," I mutter to the silent room, "I have to tell Dumbledore."

I push the sheets back and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I stand up and look out the window – it's dawn.

And then I just bolt from the room. Pushing the door open and running down the halls. Panic has overtaken me – destroyed my composure.

I turn a corner and skid to a stop.

"What did I tell you about telling others?" the cold voice of Orochimaru reaches my ears.

He stands leaning against the wall – his left hand grasping my right wrist tightly. He pulls me towards him and then twists himself around to push my back against the wall – my right wrist pressed against the wall above my head.

Our noses touch, I can smell his breath. His right hand reaches up and caresses the left side of my face. My heart beats wildly in my chest as panic overwhelms every part of my body.

"I'll give you one more chance," he whispers, his right hand falling down to trace a path down my bare chest, "Just because you're young and still a little naïve."

The image of my father's bloody and lifeless body appears in front of my eyes but quickly disappears.

He smiles at me, "Unless of course, you think you don't deserve another chance."

I stay still, his cold palm presses against my chest, right where my heart is.

"Well, do you think you deserve another chance?" he asks, pressing his palm harder against my skin.

I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat. I know my voice would fail me if I tried to talk right now. The fear that rages throughout my bother has left my completely useless and weak.

He removes his hand from my chest and raises it to my face. He places he fingertips on my left temple – right beside the Sharingan. An image of Obito's crushed body flashes in front of my eyes but disappears as quickly as it came.

"I wonder if Obito's eye would survive another transplant," he mutters to himself, "What do you think Kakashi?"

"I…I…I don't…don't know," I stutter, amazed that I could even find my voice – much less make it talk.

"Perhaps we should see, neh?"

I shake my head. Don't take away the Sharingan. I need it now – I'm too used to it, too dependent on it. To lose it now would be devastating, I wouldn't know how to fight anymore. I wouldn't know how to survive without it now.

"Kakashi?" a man questions.

We both turn our heads to the right to face the sound.

"Remus?" I whisper.

The Sannin turns his head to face me again. He cups my chin in his hand and turns my head to look at him. He releases my chin and presses his index and middle finger against my lips.

"Remember," he smiles that malice smile at me, "Don't tell anyone – I'm watching."

He disappears, releasing my right wrist and my arm falls limply to my side.

"Kakashi?" Remus asks worriedly as he makes his way to me.

I slide down the wall - taking short, panicky breaths that don't seem to supply my body with the oxygen it needs. The wall pulls at the healing lashes on my back, causing a few of them to tear open and create streaks of blood on the stone. My butt hits the cold floor and I bring my knees up, hugging them to my chest in an effort to warm the coldness that envelopes my heart.

Remus kneels in front of me, "Kakashi?"

A few tears escape my eyes and make their way down my face. My body shivers in fear and terror. My throat closes up and makes it impossible to breath. The panic inside me grows even more.

"He's too strong," I mutter as black dots appear in my vision, "And I can't warn anyone…I can't get any help."

My lungs burn with the need for oxygen but my throat refuses to open. A faint part of my mind recognizes this as a panic attack but I'm unsure what I'm suppose to do to relieve it. I know I learnt it at one time but I can't seem to recall that knowledge right now.

Not that it really matters anymore. Blackness overtakes my vision and my thoughts become fuzzy and unfocused.

The familiar feeling of unconsciousness creeps up on me and I don't even bother to fight it. I let myself slip into it's comforting embrace and forget everything.

For a little while at least.


	16. Knowledge, Questions, and Denial

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse grammatical or spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"blah, blah, blah"** -- English**

_"blah, blah, blah" _** -- Japanese**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

"Kakashi?" someone's voice rises above the ringing in my ears.

I really am getting sick and tired of falling unconscious. I think I've fallen unconscious more in the last few months then I have my whole life – it's ridiculous.

"Kakashi?" the same voice questions.

"_I'm awake_," I mutter, leaving my eyes closed for a few more seconds of blissful darkness.

Funny how I'm relishing the darkness now when just over a week ago I was cursing it.

"Kakashi, you're speaking Japanese," the voice, that I know recognize as Dumbledore's, informs me.

I blink my eyes open to find myself laying on my back on the stone floor. The faces of Albus and Remus are both in my direct line of vision for they are kneeling on either side of me.

"Sorry," I reply, making sure I'm speaking English this time.

I push myself up into a sitting position and find that I have to force down the ball of panic that tries to rise up inside my throat. Severus is standing a few feet away from the three of us – leaning comfortably against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" I spit out in anger, consciously making an effort to block my mind from any sort of mental attack he may wish to direct at me.

"Relax…I'm not here to look into your mind," he drawls out, "I'm here because of the person that came for you – the person Remus saw."

"Orochimaru?" I question, "You know of him?"

"Severus is one of the trusted ones that I keep informed of all that goes on concerning Voldemort," Albus cuts in.

I turn my head to face the old wizard, "You're lying," I simply state.

"Pardon?" he questions.

"You're lying," I repeat – then add, "Severus isn't one of your trusted ones," I turn my head to face the man in question, "He's your informant."

His eyes widen slightly in shock that he is trying to hide, "How do you know?"

I smile, "I didn't, you just seemed like the informant type," I push myself up into a standing position, "But now I do know."

"Bastard," the potions professor mutters under his breath.

"Kakashi, what does Orochimaru want with you?" Albus questions after the silence becomes too uncomfortable.

"He wants to play mind games," I reply, tearing my eyes away from Severus to look at the old wizard, "And he's winning."

"We need to speak in my office," Albus states, "All four of us," he looks directly at Snape as he attempts to inconspicuously walk away.

Dumbledore turns and walks towards his office; Severus falls into step beside him while Remus and I fall into step behind him. We walk in quiet silence until we get to his office – Albus sits down behind his desk and conjures up three chairs that the rest of us sit down in.

"First off," Dumbledore begins, "I want Kakashi to tell us all he knows of Orochimaru and what he's plans here may be."

I sigh, "Severus is your informant, which means he either has his own inside sources or he **is** your inside source. Until I know his true part in this mess and whether I can trust him or not then I will stay silent."

Albus rubs his eyes with his right hand, pushing his glasses up slightly.

"Kakashi, Severus has my complete trust – he can hear what you have to tell," he places his right hand down on the desk and starts drumming his fingers on the hardwood in frustration.

"Just because you trust him doesn't mean I do. The safety of my home is at stake here too – I will not risk betrayal."

"You're being childish – holding a grudge against him is no way to solve things," Albus informs me with weariness weighing heavily on his voice.

"This is not because of what happened before," I reply, "I would be saying the same thing even if he hadn't fucked with my mind. An insider is not someone I can easily place my trust in. Or would 'double-servant' be a better title for him?"

"Tell me," Severus cuts in, "How do you know all this? Who told you?"

"No one told me," I reply, not taking my eyes off of Dumbledore, "I just figured it out myself."

"So this is why you're called a Genius in Konoha," Snape states, "You take insignificant details, normally unnoticed actions, and personality and combine them all to figure out what is going on."

"That's part of it."

"If Orochimaru has really joined forces with the Dark Lord then you need to tell us what you know. The two of them combined will destroy both our home and yours if we don't work together," Snape tells me, a hint of anger and bitterness in his voice.

"I can't tell such things to those I can't trust," I reply coldly, finally turning my head to meet the gaze of the Potions professor.

"You would risk the whole of Konoha simply because you don't trust one person?" he asks me but doesn't bother to wait for me to answer, "Look at it this way. If you don't tell us what you know everyone might die, if you do tell us and I end up betraying you then everyone might die. Either way people might die and either way the fault lies on you."

A few moments of tense silence pass before I turn my head to face Dumbledore again.

"There's an organization here – known as 'Red Hand' – Orochimaru is the leader," I finally say.

"Do you know what this groups plan is?" Albus asks me.

"They pose no harm to you," I reply, making sure not to take my eyes off of the old wizard's – even though I so dearly wish too, "The organization was created, and the Shinobi trained, for the sole purpose to fight and kill me – nothing more."

Dumbledore's eyes widen in shock, "And why would they want you dead?"

"I don't know," I reply, "Though I suspect it may have something to do with my father. Or perhaps Orochimaru just wants to fuck around with me before he kills me – I already know that he fears I may grow stronger then him as I get older and may interfere with his future plans."

"So Orochimaru is more focused on you then any of us," Albus whispers, "So he doesn't pose an immediate threat to us."

"That's not true," I interrupt him, "I'm nothing more then a game to him, a pass-time as he waits for his main plan to take affect. I'm just a toy for him to play with, nothing more."

"Are you sure of that?" the Headmaster asks, I can tell that he doesn't believe me.

I nod.

Albus sighs, "Severus – tell us what you know."

"From what I've found out Orochimaru and the Dark Lord are not joining forces," Snape says, "The Dark Lord couldn't give Orochimaru what he wanted so the partnership failed before it even began. The only reason Orochimaru is still overseas, in our land, is for reasons unconnected to the Dark Lords plans. Whatever Orochimaru is doing here is only to further is own plans for the Shinobi lands – not ours."

"And naturally Dumbledore will believe you," I say, crossing my arms, "And push my comments off to the side as nothing but childish fears."

"Remus has also heard the same as Severus," Albus explains.

I turn my head to face the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, "So you're also an informant?"

He nods, "I'm a werewolf, and as such I gather information from those werewolves that fight along side Voldemort."

"That explains you different chakra," I state, turning my head back to face Dumbledore, "Whether you will heed my words or not is not my problem. But I ask you, doesn't it worry you that Orochimaru broke though the defenses of this school so easily?"

"Those you spot the weaknesses between the spells can easily make there way in…it's my own fault for not strengthening the defenses but I already know what I shall need to do to take care of that problem. Orochimaru will not be able to get in here again."

I nod, "Very well then. I have nothing more to say and unless you have something else you wish to tell me then I shall take my leave."

The Headmaster nods and I stand up, turn around, and make my way to the door – my hand freezes on the doorknob.

"If you need anything don't hesitate to ask," Dumbledore tells me.

"Well, now that you've mentioned it, I do need a new katana," I twist the doorknob and push the door open.

"Another one?" Albus asks.

I turn my head and smile at him, "It seems to be a weapon I tend to lose a lot," I shrug, "If you get me a new one I promise to try and keep it a little longer."

I walk out of the room, closing the door behind me. I slowly make my way to my room and once there I pull out a scroll, a quill, and a bottle of ink. I write an English message on the scroll – a fake message from Dumbledore to Sandaime that request my removal from Hogwarts. Once the message is completed I pull back the paper to reveal another piece underneath it – a piece of paper stuck between two other ones. On the hidden paper I write my actual message – telling Sandaime that I need back-up and that Orochimaru is here. I place the other piece of paper, the one with the fake message, on top of the real message and perform a few seals. The paper forms together into one and a small picture of the Konoha symbol appears on the top right corner of the fake message, marking this scroll as a Konoha Hidden Secret scroll – a type of scroll that only current Jounin of Konoha can recognize. The symbol is changed, along with the position it is placed in, every year so that missing-nins will not be able to recognize the scroll as a Hidden Secret Scroll.

I roll the scroll up and leave my room, walking to the top of one of the towers of this castle – up to where Obito's eye tells me the owls stay. I push the door open and to be greeted with the smell of owls, rotting food, and decomposing owl shit. I grimace as I pick a path over to one of the bigger, stronger looking owls. I frown when I approach the owl, do these animal understand English or not? I guess the only way to find out is to ask.

"Do you know where Konoha is?" I ask the owl, feeling very ridiculous.

The owl nods and excitingly hoots, as if it's been waiting forever for someone to send him to Konoha.

"Take this scroll to Sarutobi, the Sandaime, in Konoha," I tell the owl, "And make sure no one else sees it, no matter what," I hold the scroll out.

The owl takes the scroll in its claws and flies off out of one of the windows. I turn around and make my way back to my room. I plop down on the couch and stare into the fire that's always burning in the fireplace.

Pakkun jumps up on the couch beside me and crawls onto my lap. I automatically start petting him as I stare into the memorizing flames.

"_If Orochimaru finds that hidden message_," my cracking voice breaks the silence of the room, "_then I'm fucked_."

Pakkun licks my left hand as my right hand continues to unconsciously pet him.

"_But if I don't get back-up_," I continue, "_then I'm just as fucked. I don't care what Dumbledore thinks, Orochimaru is here because he's partnered up with Voldemort_."

Pakkun barks in agreement.

I look down at the pup, "_At least you trust me_."

"Professor Hatake?" a meek voice questions from behind me.

I jump up and around in shock, knocking Pakkun off my lap and sending him sprawling across the floor – nails desperately digging and scratching against the wooden floor to slow down his acceleration.

"I'm sorry…very, very sorry sir," a small goblin - or maybe a tiny elf? – squeaks out, "I didn't…didn't mean to scare you. Please sir, don't be angry at Nawin…please."

I raise an eyebrow in question as I look at the strange image before me: A goblin, elf-like creature stands before me holding a plate of food and look like he - or is it a she? - is about to shit his, or her, pants.

"Nawin just brought your food…orders from Master Dumbledore…please sir, don't be angry," it, yes – I'll just settle for it, stutters.

Something about this creature tugs at the edge of my mind, like I've seen it before, like I should recognize it. But unfortunately my memory of this creature, if I ever had one to begin with, is completely gone. That can't be a good sign.

I sigh, walk around the couch, and take the offered plate of food. The creature bows and quickly disappears.

I stare blankly at the spot where it once stood. So these…these creatures…can Apparate here but anyone else can't? Why does that seem completely ridiculous to me? This place doesn't make sense, the people here don't make sense.

I return to the couch and slowly, deliberately, I eat the food presented on the plate. It's been so long since I've last ate an actual meal but instead of enjoying the food it feels like nothing more then sand in my mouth. I've lost all taste for food – not that I had much to begin with. I eat only half the food before setting the plate on the floor and letting Pakkun eat the rest of it.

I shift from my sitting position to lay down on the couch. After few minutes Pakkun jumps up on to my chest and lays down.

"_You know_," I direct at the pup, "I _should really get around to training you – one day I'm going to need you to help me_."

Pakkun shakes his head and whines in protest.

I chuckle, "_You need to at least learn how to speak_."

A knock on my door stops my one-sided conversation. I sigh as Pakkun jumps off my chest and I roll over to stand up. I walk over to the door and open it to find Dumbledore standing there with a new katana.

"Thanks," I say as he hands me the katana.

"Kakashi," he grabs my left arm to stop me in mid turn.

I slowly turn back to face him, "Yes?"

"Don't worry about Voldemort…I know that he will regain his power but I also know that that time won't come for awhile yet. You'll be far away from here once that happens."

"It is not Voldemort I'm worrying about, it's Orochimaru. The fact that he may join with Voldemort is what worries me, not Voldemort himself," I coldly reply.

"Kakashi, that's not going…"

"Whether you believe it or not," I interrupt him, "is not my problem."

He lets go of my arm with as a sad smile forms on his face, "I've never seen such a young child so focused on protecting others."

I raise an eyebrow in disbelief, "Then you'd be shocked shitless if you ever came to Konoha – the whole village is full of young children who do nothing but protect others."

"To put such responsibility on the shoulder's of those who are so young – our cultures really are different."

"No shit," I reply, rolling my eyes in sarcasm.

I turn around and walk to the door of my bedroom. I twist the doorknob, push the door open, and pause in the doorframe. I hear Dumbledore close the other door and his feet softly walk down the hall and away from me.

I place the sword against the dresser, "_I don't know why Pakkun_," I mutter, "_But I'm incredibly tired_."

The pup runs over to me and jumps on the unmade bed.

"_Maybe I should go to bed?_" I ask the silent room, "_But it's only morning. It's a ridiculous time to be going to bed – especially since I just got up._"

Though my mind is screaming at me, yelling at me, telling me I have to stay up and train if I want to have any chance to defend myself against Orochimaru my body doesn't listen. My body has been through too much here, especially the last little while. I don't know how long I went without true sleep in that cell but however long it was my body is trying to make it up now.

So, with little resistant on my part, I crawl under the warm covers of the bed and drift off into a sound sleep – Pakkun snuggled against my chest.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

My right eye snaps open – something feels off. Something feels **really** off. Something about this castle just isn't right. I push the sheets back, swing my leg over the edge of the bed, and get up. I stretch my arms up in the air to relieve the kink in my back as I walk over to my dresser. I quickly change my clothes, pulling my mask up to cover my face yet again – something I haven't done for a long time.

No matter how hard I try to ignore the strange sensation that woke me up I just can't. Something is tugging at the edge of my mind, something that is trying to warn me, trying to tell me what to do next. I wonder if I'm the only one in the world with a brain that seems to communicate with me in a coded language that I have to decode in order to figure out what to do.

I open the door of my bedroom, grabbing my katana along the way, and enter the rest of my room. The fire from the fireplace causes strange shadows to dance throughout the room. It must be around one in the morning – but I'm not completely sure.

And then it hits me – like I just ran into a wall. The chakra in this school has nearly doubled and I know it's not because a whole bunch of children have returned. No, this chakra is too malice for that.

It's Orochimaru.

A shudder of fear and panic spreads up my spine but I quickly push it away. I blink open Obito's Sharingan and Orochimaru's chakra hits me even stronger. He isn't even trying to hide it, like he **wants** me to find him.

Why is he here? Did he discover the hidden letter? Is he here for me again or is he here for someone else? Is he here for reasons related to Voldemort or for his own reasons?

So many questions and no answers. Why can't I ever ask myself questions that I can answer? It would make my life, and my missions, so much easy to deal with and to complete.

Obito's eye spots Orochimaru's whereabouts. He's near a student tower…Gryffindor I think? And he's not just near it, he's in it. But how? Don't the student houses have passwords?

Wait, that's a silly question to ask. It's Orochimaru – what he wants he gets; always.

I take a few deep breathes to calm the panic inside of me. I grab my katana holster off the floor and strap it on, slipping the katana into it.

I slowly leave my room, making my way down the halls to the Gryffindor tower. My slow, steady steps turn into a slow jog, and then a faster jog, and finally a run – I'm even taking the stairs two steps at a time. As I get closer I slow down and make sure to control my breathing – making my breaths small and quiet. I do my best to hide my chakra signature even though I know it's probably pointless.

The portrait that covers the entrance to the Gryffindor common room has been calmly removed and set on the ground – the Fat Lady within sleeping soundly. Obito's eye tells me she is trapped in a Genjutsu.

My brain, or rather my Genius instincts, scream at me to take action. I spin around, pulling my katana out of its holster, and my sword hits another one with an audible **clang**.

"_So my chakra did wake you_," he says, speaking to me in Japanese for the first time ever.

"_What are you doing here?_" I ask the Sannin, "_What is it you want?_"

"_I already have what I want_," he replies with a cold smile as he holds up a small vile of blood with his left hand – his right hand grasping the hilt of his sword, "_The blood of the one that defeated Lord Voldemort – he needs it to regain his power. And that kid won't even remember having blood removed._"

"_So you really have partnered up with Voldemort_," I whisper, "_And for what reason?_"

"_You know Kakashi,_" Orochimaru lowers his katana and so do I, "_You truly are a strange individual. Sometimes you are scared shitless of me and other times you are bold enough to actually attempt to fight me even though you know you have no chance._"

We fall silent, with no sound coming from either of us.

"_But then again,_" the Sannin thinks out loud, finally breaking the tense silence, "_it is the same trait your father had so I can't say it surprises me._"

"_You know nothing of my father,_" I spit out.

"_And you think you do?_" he laughs, he actually laughs at me, "_You were seven when he killed himself – I knew him from when we were mere children. We trained together, went on missions together, laughed and joked together. It was one of the few friendships I used to miss, back when I used to still long for my lost past._"

Anger overrides my senses, my mind, all my thoughts. How dare this man even suggest that him and father were friends. How **dare** he! I step forward, bring my katana up to attack.

But it doesn't matter how fast I might be for Orochimaru will always be faster. In a blink of an eye, faster then Obito's Sharingan could even track, he has me pinned against the wall – his katana at my throat while my katana scatters across the floor and out of my reach.

"_Fast, as expected of a Hatake,_" his face is centimeters from my own, "_But not fast enough. Never fast enough,_" he smiles at me, "_Funny how you know now for a fact that Voldemort will be returning to power and yet the others will still not believe you._"

"_They will_," I simply state, desperately trying to keep my panic in check.

He chuckles, "_No they won't. They pass off your words of warning as nothing but childish nightmares. They will blindly believe their own informant and not heed your words. You know now the destruction that is coming but you're only one person,_" he leans in closer to me, his hot breath blows on my face, "_And one person can do nothing to stop me._"

He steps back, but only slightly, and removes his katana from my neck. I watch, frozen in fear, as he traces the katana down my chest, cutting through the fabric of my shirt and tracing a thin line from my left shoulder to below my right ribcage – he releases the pressure as he traces over the straps of my holster. Blood slowly begins to trickle out of the shallow cut and soaks into my shirt.

He removes his katana from my skin and smiles at me. Narrow, cool, glittering golden eyes flash along the blade as he licks it clean of my blood.

He breaks eye contact with me and slowly walks over to the portrait of the Fat Lady and replaces it over the entrance to the Gryffindor tower.

"_It's best you leave here,_" he says, turning to face me, "_Before I change my mind on that one last chance you're still living on._"

I nod. And even though a strong part of my mind is screaming at me to stay and be strong and not fail another part, an even stronger part, of my mind is yelling at me too flee.

And flee I do. I turn around, grab my katana off the floor, and run. Faintly I here Orochimaru's voice whisper, "Kai," to dispel the Genjutsu he placed on the Fat Lady portrait and then his chakra is gone – disappeared - he's left this school.

I drop to my knees, the hilt of my katana grasped tightly in my right hand, and take deep shuddering breaths to try and calm the terror and panic that has wrapped itself around my heart. But it won't leave, I can't get rid of it. Every time he comes here, every time I'm in his presence, the terror gets stronger and harder to control. The panic takes longer to calm down.

The strength he has and the sheer terror he invokes in people – it's enough to make one go insane. And I swear the only thing keeping me sane now is the fact that I was already partially insane before I even met him.

I bring my left hand up, my right hand and arm supporting my weight on the floor, to trace the shallow cut across my chest. I bring the same hand up to my face and stare at the blood that now covers my fingertips.

My blood.

I push myself up to a standing position, placing my katana back into its holster. I quickly make my way to Dumbledore's office – my body still shaking in terror. I don't care if the Headmaster doesn't believe me, I still have to try and tell him, I still have to try and make him listen.

I reach the gargoyle and whisper the password. It swings open and I walk up the stairs – the door swings open before I even reach it.

"What brings you here, so early in the morning?" Dumbledore asks as I step inside his office and close the door behind me.

"Orochimaru was here," I simply state.

The Headmaster doesn't move from his position staring out the window, his back to me.

"I wasn't alerted of his presence, the spells that protect this school didn't tell me that he passed within the borders," Albus replies, still not turning around.

"He was here, he took the blood of one of your students…"

"This is childish Kakashi," the Headmaster interrupts me, finally turning around, "To believe such silly nightmares is…" he stops in mid sentence as he spots to cut across my chest.

"Orochimaru was here," I repeat, "Whether you wish to believe it or not."

"What happened to your chest?"

"Orochimaru."

Albus sighs, "Kakashi, Orochimaru was not here…if he was I would've known."

I bite my bottom lip in an attempt to keep my anger in check, "He was here," I repeat.

"Ka…"

"He took the blood of one of your students," I interrupt, "He said it was the one that first defeated Voldemort, the blood needed to revive the power of Voldemort."

"Kakashi," Dumbledore sadly shakes his head, "These are nothing but nightmares you're believing."

"Then this cut, this injury, how else would I have acquired it?" I question, an angry tone overtaking my normally calm voice.

"There are many ways, ways more likely."

"Are you suggesting I hurt myself to make you believe me?" I question, my voice rising in anger and terror gripping at my heart even tighter.

He sighs, "I would have no reason to not believe that."

"Orochimaru was here," I repeat again, clenching my hands into fists.

"You're being childish."

"You're being blind!" I scream back, "The world doesn't follow the path you wish it too! The enemy doesn't follow the plan you think they should!"

"Kakashi!" Dumbledore yells at me and I fall into silence, "If Orochimaru was here I would know," he continues in a quieter, calmer voice, "He was not here."

"You're making a mistake," I whisper, "A huge mistake," I turn around and open the door.

"Kakashi…"

I ignore him as I leave, letting the door slam shut behind me. I let my mind go blank until I get back to my room. I fall down, exhausted, on my bed. The cold, icy grip of terror still has its hold on my heart.

Could Dumbledore really be right?


	17. Heroes Often Fail

**Red Hand**_**  
**_

_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors. This is my NaNoWriMo novel...who says it has to be great? Not me, that's for sure._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"blah, blah, blah"** -- English**

_"blah, blah, blah" _** -- Japanese**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

It was Obito's broken, bloody, one-eyed body that finally woke me up from my terrifying nightmare. But even in the waking world his body is still within my sight.

I must really be going insane.

I push my shaking, sweating body up into a sitting position. Obito stands at the door to my bedroom, leaning on the wooden frame. He limps towards me, the right side of his body crushed beyond recognition.

"_Why Kakashi?_" he stops at the side of my bed, "_If you just came with me…if you just…then I would still be alive. Why? Why are you always just about the rules and nothing more…even now?_"

His voice is harsh and grating against my ears – painful to listen too. It's not at all like the bubbly, hyper voice that I remember.

"_To think, after all this time, my memory still haunts you_," his one eye glares down at me.

"_It hasn't been that long,_" I croak out.

"_The amount of people you've killed_," he accuses me, "_has nearly quadrupled since I've died – less than two years ago_."

Now that is a fact I've never noticed before, never paid attention too.

"_You've just gone on a mindless killing spree to ease your guilt_," he pauses and takes a shaking breath, "_You're no better than Orochimaru – killing for no real reason except your own selfishness_."

I shake my head in a pitiful attempt to defend myself, "_You're nothing but a delusion – I can't believe anything you say_."

He smiles at me and I watch in horror as his skin melts away to reveal his bones. The white, frail bones begin to change – growing and twisting to become a different body. Skin melts out of the bones and forms over his frame to reveal another body, another person.

Orochimaru.

His yellow eyes bear into my terrified and shivering frame. He kneels down beside the bed and cups my chin in his hand.

"_Hatake Kakashi, son of Sakumo – the White Fang of Konoha_," he smiles caringly at me, "_fifteen and already broken beyond most people's ability to repair_."

I stare into his malice eyes, trapped in a gaze that I desperately wish to escape.

"_Come with me, work for me, believe in me_," he leans closer to me and whispers into my ear, "_I can help fix you – I can help repair your shattered soul_."

I shake my head, "_Just a delusion –can't believe it_," I mutter in a barely audible voice.

"_Is this?_" he asks me, "_Are you sure of that?_"

I shake my head in a silent "no." I can't trust my mind anymore. I have no idea if this really is a delusion or not. I think it is but I can't be sure – not after Dumbledore's doubts earlier.

"_The offer stands_," he whispers, leaning even closer to me – his hot breath blows against my ear, "_for whenever you wish to accept it. I'll be waiting_."

I blink and he's gone. The terror that was wrapped around my heart begins to lessen a little – but just a little.

The first thing I notice is the fact that the chakra in this school has grown greatly – the students have returned. Which means I've been sleeping, or unconscious might be a better term, for longer then I should've been.

I swing my feet off the side of the bed and stand up. My legs buckle unexpectedly underneath of me and I collapse to the floor, catching myself with my hands. Pakkun barks worriedly beside me as I just stay there – staring at the floor and taking deep breaths for a few minutes. What is happening? Why is my body so weak?

A part of my brain – the still sane part – is telling me that it's because I haven't eaten a real meal in who-knows-how-long. But like always I push that part away to the back of my mind. I'm not hungry anyways.

I stagger to my feet and slowly make my way to my dresser. I pull out some clothes and then push open the door of my bedroom. I pick up my discarded vest and katana holder – katana still within in – off the ground. I exit my room and enter the empty halls. I wonder how early it is, or late…I'm not too sure. I unlock the door to the showers with the key attached to my dog-tags.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I find the room empty. I undress and take a quick shower – letting the hot water relax the tension in my muscles and relieve the last thread of terror that still grips my heart. I turn the water off and lean against the cold stone wall; letting the air dry the water from my skin.

Eventually, when my skin is left only damp from my shower, I put on my clean clothes – strapping on my katana holster and slipping on my Jounin vest overtop of hit. I take out a hitaiate from a pocket in my vest and slip it on over my not-quite-wet-but-not-quite-damp hair and pull it over top of my left eye. Hiding Obito's eye for the first time in a very long time.

I push open the door and enter the hall to nearly get knocked over by a running form of someone that I know I should recognize. That person skids to a stop, turns around, runs back to me, grabs my arm, and starts dragging me along at his incredibly fast pace.

"I don't know were you've been for so long but I fear I'm going to need your help now," the man says between his gasping breaths for air.

His name clicks in my head – Remus.

"What's going on?" I question, pulling my arm out of his grasp and matching his pace.

"I fear Harry and his friends our in trouble, we need to help them," he answers.

"Who?" I question, "And what does this have to do with me?"

"Harry, Ron, Hermione," he replies, "And isn't part of your job to protect the students here?"

"Not technically," I state, "But…"

"Your hero complex tends to practically force you to protect them," he finishes for me.

I nod and we fall into silence for a few moments. We reach a door and he pushes it open to reveal the dusky outside.

"Where are we going anyways?" I ask as we make our way up a beaten dirt path.

The hill we're now on makes it harder to run. My lungs are beginning to burn with every breath.

"You'll see," he cryptically replies.

Silence falls around us again. Eventually we get close to a very big willow tree.

"This is the Whopping Willow," he tells me as he pulls out his wand.

He points his wand at the very animated, very lively, and very angry tree - I see now why it has been titled the Whopping Willow. He mutters incantations and the tree freezes on the spot. Without breaking his stride he ducks into a gap in the trees trunk and I quickly follow behind. We jog up the tunnel to reach the door at the far end.

He breaks through the door at the end of the tunnel and we run up a set of stairs. He pushes his way through a partly opened door and exclaims an incantation – knocking the wand out of the black-haired child in the room. I pause at the door and watch with mild interest at the scene unfolding in front of me.

The black-haired child, I think his name is Harry, quickly scurries off the crumpled body of another black-haired man – an older, scruffy, and exhausted man.

"Well, well, Sirius. Looking rather ragged aren't we?" Remus says, "Finally the flesh reflects the madness within."

"Well you'd know all about the madness really," the man know identified as Sirius replies, "Wouldn't you Remus?"

Remus lowers his wand and offers his left hand to the man on the floor with a smile. Sirius takes the offered hand and Remus pulls him up into an embrace – as if they're long lost friends meeting again for the first time in many years.

"I found him," Sirius whispers excitedly.

"I know," Remus replies.

"It's here."

"I understand."

"Let's kill him."

"No!" the only girl in the room screams.

His her name Hermione? I think it is. Either way it doesn't matter much to me. I lean back against the wall beside the door and make myself more comfortable. No reason to get involved yet.

"I trusted you," the girl continues, "And all this time…you've been his friend."

She turns to face Harry, "He's a werewolf," she turns back and points at Remus, "That's why he's been missing classes."

"How long have you known?" Remus asks as he walks towards her.

"Since Professor Snape set the essay," she replies – her voice beginning to lose the confidence it held just moments before.

"Well, well, well, Hermione – you really are the brightest witch of your age I've ever met," he replies with a smile.

"Enough talk Remus," Sirius interrupts, "Come on, let's kill him!"

"Wait!" Remus exclaims.

"I did my waiting!" Sirius yells back, "Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!"

What is Azkaban? That is something I should have to figure out later. But judging from the reactions of the three children it is not someplace that anyone would willingly go too.

"Very well," Remus hands Sirius his wand and Sirius selfishly takes it, "Kill him...but wait one more minute – Harry has the right to know why."

"I know why," Harry speaks up, "You betrayed my parents – you're the reason their dead!"

"No Harry, it wasn't him," Remus says, "Somebody did betray your parents but it was somebody who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead!"

Well this is definitely getting more interesting now.

"Who was it then?" Harry asks in anger.

"Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius exclaims, "And he's in this room, right now! Come out! Come out Peter! Come out! Come out and play!"

"Expelliarmus!" Severus exclaims as he runs in through the door and causes me to step to the side in order to make sure he doesn't hit me.

Remus' wand flies out of Sirius hands and scatters across the floor.

"Vengeance is sweet," Severus drawls out, "How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you."

"Severus," Remus begins but stops as soon as the Potions Professor points his wand at the him.

"I told Dumbledore you were helping an old friend into the castle," Severus continues, "And now…here's the proof."

"Brilliant Snape," Sirius speaks up, "Once again you've put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and as usual come to the wrong conclusion. Now, if you excuse us – Remus and I have some unfinished business to attend too."

"Give me a reason," Severus places his wand against Sirius' neck, "I beg you."

Remus shakes his head from his position behind Sirius, "Severus don't be a fool."

"He can't help it," Sirius says, "it's habit by now."

"Sirius be quiet," Remus orders.

"Be quiet yourself Remus!" Sirius exclaims.

Snape clicks his tongue, "Listen to you two, quarreling like an old married couple."

"Why don't you run along and play with your Chemistry set!" Sirius retorts.

"I could do it you know," Severus threatens, "But why deny the Dementors? They're so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? – Yes," Severus pushes Sirius back with the tip of his wand, "The Dementor's kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like to endure. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness – but I'll do my best."

"Severus please," Remus pleads.

Out of the corner of my right eye I see Harry reach around Hermione and grab her wand from her pocket.

Snape removes his wand from Sirius' neck and uses it to point out the door, "After you."

The Potions Professor nods at the three children and Harry steps forward – wand in hand. This is going to be interesting, whatever this child decides to do it will fuck with whatever plane Severus had.

Harry lifts Hermione's wand and points it at Sirius.

"Expelliarmus!" he exclaims, quickly switching the direction of the wand to make sure it points at Severus instead of Remus.

Snape flies backwards and hits the wall with a loud **thud** and causing a couple shelves to fall down on top of him.

"Harry," the red-headed boy says in shock, "What did you just do?"

If I remember correctly then his name is Ron.

"You attacked a teacher," Hermione says in shock and anger.

Harry ignores his two friends and points his wand at Remus, "Tell me about Peter Pettigrew."

"He was at school with us," Remus explains, "We thought he was our friend."

"No," Harry says, "Pettigrew's dead."

Remus shakes his head.

"You killed him," Harry point his wand at Sirius.

"No he didn't!" Remus interrupts, walking in front of Sirius and into the line of the wand, "I thought so too until you mentioned seeing Pettigrew on the map."

What map? I need to add that to the list of things I need to learn about – including Azkaban and who the hell Voldemort really is.

"The map was lying then," Harry tries to explain.

"The map never lies!" Sirius exclaims from his position at the back of the room, "Pettigrew's alive! And he's right there," he points at Ron.

"Me? It's mental," Ron's face goes white with fear.

"Not you," Sirius replies in frustration, "Your rat!"

"Scabs has been in my family for…"

"Twelve years," Sirius interrupts Ron, "curiously long life for a common garden rat. He's missing a toe, isn't he?"

"So what?" Ron asks – still not quite over his fear.

"All they could find of Pettigrew was his…"

"Finger!" Sirius interrupts Harry as he walks towards Ron, "The dirty coward cut it off so everyone would think he was dead…and then he transformed into a rat."

"Show me," Harry orders.

Sirius tries to grab the rat out of Ron's hand but the red-headed child won't let go.

"Give it to him Ron," Harry states.

"What are you trying to do to him?" Ron asks in concern for his pet.

Sirius manages to wrestle the rat from Ron's hands.

"Scabbers!" Ron exclaims, "Leave him alone!"

Sirius ignores Ron and takes the rat over to a table closer to where I'm standing.

"Get off him," Ron continues, "What are you doing?"

Remus picks up his wand off the floor and hands it over to Sirius. Sirius places Scabbers on the table and points his wand at it. The rat runs off as Sirius makes multiple attempts to hit it with a spell that I can only assume would turn it back into it's original form – which, from what I gather, is a human form.

The rat runs off the table, off a piano, scurries across the floor, and jumps through a hole in the wall. Sirius finally hits Scabbers just as he's passing through the hole and the rat transforms into a short, chubby man with thinning hair and grubby hands. Remus and Sirius pull the transformed man out of the hole and push him into the middle of the room.

"Remus…S-Sirius. My old friends," Peter stutters.

He makes a break for the door but both Sirius and Remus grab him and push him back.

Peter turns around to face Harry, "Harry, look at you. You look so much like your father," he walks closer to the child, "Like James. We were the best of friends."

Sirius runs over to Pettigrew and pulls him away from Harry, "How dare you speak to Harry!"

Peter runs behind the piano and Remus and Sirius run in front of it to block his escape.

"How dare you talk about James in front of him!" Sirius continues.

Remus points his wand, which I'm not sure how he also got in possession of a wand along with Sirius, at Peter, "You sold James and Lilly to Voldemort, didn't you?"

"I didn't mean too," Pettigrew pitifully defends himself, "The Dark Lord – you have no idea the weapons he possesses," he turns to face Sirius, "Ask yourself Sirius, what would you have done? What would you have done!"

"I would've died!" Sirius replies as Peter ducks under the piano in an attempt to escape, "I would've died rather then betray my friends!"

Peter crawls out from underneath the piano and makes a break for the door. I push myself off the wall and step to my left to block off the doorway. Pettigrew skids to a stop and turns slightly to his left to face Harry.

"Harry!" he exclaims as he grabs the child's shoulders and whispers into his ear, "James wouldn't have wanted me killed! Your dad…your dad would spare me! He would show me mercy!"

Sirius grabs Peter off of Harry and pushes him back into the center of the room. I reassume my position against the wall beside the door.

"You should've realize Peter," Sirius says as he and Remus points their wands at the trembling man, "that if Voldemort didn't kill then you we would. Together!"

"No!" Harry exclaims.

Remus sighs, "Harry, this man…"

"I know what he is," Harry interrupts as he walks towards Peter, "But we'll take him to the castle."

"Bless you boy," Pettigrew falls to his knees, "Bless you."

"Get off!" Harry exclaims as Peter tries to grab a hold of the child, "I said we'd take you to the castle. After that, the Dementors can have you."

Peter shakes in fear as Remus and Sirius hull him up into a standing position. Remus protectively keeps his wand pointed at Peter as Sirius and Harry go over to Ron to help him up.

"Can you take care of Severus?" Remus asks me as Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walk out the door.

I nod as Remus and Pettigrew pass me, "But I need an explanation later," I whisper to the werewolf.

"Of course," he whisper in response.

I stay still for a few moments as I listen to the footsteps fade away. I eventually push myself off the wall and make my way over to the crumpled form of Severus. I kneel down beside him, pushing the shelves away from him, and shake his shoulder gently.

"Severus?" I question in an attempt to rouse the man, "Severus?"

He groans and raises his right hand up to rub his forehead, "What?" he questions in anger.

"Come on, get up," I urge, "We need to get out of here."

He opens his eyes and blinks a few times to get his vision to focus, "Kakashi?" he questions.

"Yes," I reply, "It's Kakashi…now come on."

I stand up and offer my hand to the professor. He takes it and I pull him up, steadying him as he regains his footing.

"Ka…"

"Quiet," I order, "Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Severus asks in confusion.

"Quiet!"

Sounds…I can hear moans of pain coming from outside this shack.

"Come on!" I grab Severus' arm and drag him out of the room.

He stops and bends down to pick up his wand, "Come on!" I order.

"What are you going on about?" he questions as I drag him down the tunnel in a half-jog half-run.

"Run! Run!" I hear someone shout – perhaps Sirius.

"Is it a full moon tonight?" Severus questions in concern; I guess he must of heard the sounds now.

"I think so," I reply, "Why?"

"Remus!" Severus states, "If he didn't take the potion then he won't be able to keep his sanity when he's a werewolf!"

I quicken my pace as fear for the children begins to clutch around my heart. I can't let them get hurt…I just can't.

The sound of howling reverberates against the walls of the tunnel. We both quicken our pace and we break out of the darkness of the tunnel just as the howl ends. Both of us run in front of the three children and stand protectively in front of them. The now fully transformed werewolf walks closer towards. He growls and then takes a swipe at us.

The swipe knocks us all down. I managed to lift my arms up to protect my face – Snape was not so lucky as the claws left a gash from his left temple down to his left chin.

The werewolf moves to attack us again but just before he does a dog attacks it. What is that? Where did that dog come from? What's going on here?

The five of us push ourselves up into a standing position as the black dog fights off the werewolf and protects us. I push my hitaiate up to reveal my Sharingan eye. I've never fought a werewolf before and if I need to intervene I'm not going to be taking any chances. But for now I protectively stand in front of the three children with Severus by my side.

The dog manages to chase the werewolf away and I let go of the breath I didn't even realize I was holding it.

"Sirius," Harry whispers as he runs off in pursuit of the two animals.

"Get back here Potter!" Severus orders but the child doesn't listen.

"I'll take care of him," I state, "Protect these two."

Snape nods and I run after Harry but I don't follow him. I veer off into the forest and speed up. From the safety of the trees I see Harry idiotically throw a rock at the werewolf. The kid is stupid, trying to protect the ones he cares about without having any ability to do so – stupid.

What should I do? What would distract a werewolf and get it to come over here? I guess they're like wolves and respond to stimuli like wolves would.

So I howl. Yup, how un-shinobi like is this method? I cup my hands around my mouth and howl like a werewolf would. It seems to work as the werewolf has lost interest in Harry and is now running after me – and it's running fast.

I turn around and hightail it out of here – if I keep running then I might be able to lead it far enough away from everyone. Unfortunately it seems that a werewolf can run faster then a human for it's quickly gaining up on me.

I skid to a stop and turn around to face the beast. This is a harder enemy to fight for I can't actually hurt it – it's actually a friend that I have to keep alive. It slows down and stops a few feet away from me. It growls and bears it teeth as it slowly walks towards me.

I focus chakra into my right hand – but no for the Raikiri. No…this time I'm creating a low powered Rasengan. The werewolf steps back in slight fear but quickly shakes it off. It bends back on its hinds legs, takes a few running steps, and then jumps at me. I jump right back it and punch my right hand into its belly. It howls in pain and claws against my back, tearing through my vest and katana holster. Our opposing forces cancel each other out and we end up falling a few feet in front of where I started. The Rasengan fades away and the werewolf collapses, its claws tearing against my skin as it tries to use me to stand.

Its claws slip off my skin and it awkwardly rolls over. It stumbles as it tries to stand up. It finally regains it balances, takes one look at me, and then bolts it out of here. Running away from me and not in the direction of Harry.

The wind picks up around me and I look up to see multiple strange, black-hooded figures flying in the sky. I frown at the malice chakra that emits from them. I quickly bend down and pull out my katana from the shattered holster. I grip it tightly in my right hand as I take off in a run in the direction that the strange hooded figures are flying.

I jump into the branches of the trees around me so that I can bypass running on the rocky, uneven ground. I reach the edge of the forest and jump down into a clearing that is mostly covered by a lake. On the far side I see two figures – Harry and Sirius – surrounded by the black figures.

They're flying low over the two. Obito's eye is telling me that the hooded figures are sucking out their chakra, the essence of their soul. The air becomes chilled – the edges of the lake freeze. The very presence of these shadowy figures freezes everything around them.

I watch as Harry staggers to his feet. Obito's Sharingan copies the spell he's doing with ease. If only I had a wand I could also do that spell – only mine would be strong, mine would have a chance of success. I hope to God that this place is not within the confines of the Hogwarts grounds.

I place the katana between my teeth, the blade cutting fine cuts along the corner of my mouth, as Harry falls to his knees in exhaustion. I make a few familiar seals in rapid succession. The lake spins into a black void and then reappears – only this time on the opposite side; the side that Harry and Sirius are on.

I grab my katana out of my mouth and drop it on the ground. I bend down and quickly take Harry's wand from his weak hands. He stares up at me in shock.

I stand up, take a few steps backwards, and point Harry's wand up at the sky into the mass of hooded figures.

"Expecto Patronum!" I shout out as I focus my chakra into the small, wooden, fragile wand.

I fiery – white fire - bear emits from my wand…luminous and bright…it slashes through the air; sowing light in the darkness. The Dementors wilt in its wake, but more replace them - sweeping down in waves. Still, the bear charges on. The light expands even more – something I didn't think was possible. The clearing is blazing with this white light. The remaining Dementors flee, drifting across the moon like ash. The light ebbs. The bears luminous body flickers and then fades away to let the darkness retake the clearing.

"Impressive Kakashi," a familiar malice and taunting voice breaks the still silence, "Especially for one not trained in magic. To copy a spell with your Sharingan is something that I didn't expect to be possible."

I turn around, dropping the wand on the ground as immobilizing fear grips my body.

"But then again – you are a Hatake with a Uchiha bloodline limit…I don't know why I'm still surprised by your accomplishments," the yellow, slitted eyes shine brightly in the near darkness that surrounds us.

The Sannin makes his way down the hill – a hooded figure behind him. But he's not the same as the hooded figures I just got rid of. No…this one has an actually body underneath his robes – not like the other ones.

I watch in silence as Orochimaru steps on my katana, grinding his heel into the blade and cracking it lengthwise down the center. Making it useless.

My head snaps to the right as someone – correction, multiple people – push their way into the clearing. The three of them – Snape, Hermione, and the limping Ron – freeze at the sight that befalls them.

Out of the corner of my eye Obito's Sharingan tracks the Sannin's fast movements as he goes to attack. I follow his direction for that's all I can do – my Sharingan is not strong enough to predict this Shinobi's future attacks.

I grind my teeth together and plant my feet into the ground. My hands are above my head, grasping tightly onto the blade of Orochimaru's katana to stop its deadly strike that was meant for Professor Snape. The edge cuts deep into my palms, the blood trickles down my wrists and arms – dripping off my elbow to form puddles on the muddy ground.

Harry pushes himself into a standing position – fear evident in his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I whisper to the Sannin.

"You used up your last chance," he smiles at me, "I found out you told Konoha. I don't know how you managed to sneak a message past me but you did. Either way…it doesn't matter now."

My eyes widen in shock, "How di…"

"The ones that came for back-up have already fallen into my trap," he interrupts me – his smile growing with amusement.

"Who are you!" Harry exclaims in anger.

The hooded figure pulls out a wand and points it at Harry. I jump up and somersault over Orochimaru – bringing the katana with me and thus twisting the Sannin around as he refuses to let go of his katana.

Orochimaru rips the katana from my grasps – which only helps me – and I quickly form multiple seals. Creating a clone that stands protectively in front of Harry.

"Tell me Kakashi, are you willing to take the pain of all the spells directed at everyone here?" Orochimaru whispers into my ear, "Because the spells that are just meant for you are going to be painful enough to deal with – trust me."

The hooded figure turns away from Harry and brings his attention to me. He removes his hood with both of his thin hands to reveal his pale, skull-like face, and red, cat-like eyes.

"Voldemort?" Hermione whispers in terror.

His unnaturally long fingers curl around his wand as he points it directly at me. Orochimaru places his hand my right shoulder – the physically contact freezes me to the spot. My brain is screaming at me but the fear and panic has rendered my body immobile.

The Dark Lord smiles at me, "Crucio," he whispers.

My knees buckle as pain courses throughout me – radiating from my heart out into the rest of my body. I catch myself with my hands as my knees crash against the rocky ground. Faintly I hear someone call my name but I can't tell who it is above the ringing in my ears.

It feels as if a million little knives are jabbing into every millimeter of my body – outside and inside. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to focus on just breathing and nothing else but it doesn't help. My body shudders in pain, the muscles shaking in exhaustion. I can taste blood in my mouth from the cut I've created on my bottom lip from biting it so hard.

The pain begins to subside and I take a few shuddering deep breathes to calm the panic inside of me. I open my eyes and lift my head up to stare into the red eyes of Voldemort – only to find Professor Snape standing beside him.

"Severus?" I question, my voice shaking in pain.

"I've chosen my allegiance," he whispers.

If I wasn't so exhausted, if the pain wasn't still overwhelming me, then I would probably be very angry right now. But as it stands I currently have the strength of a two year-old. I doubt I could even stand up on my own.

"How was that Kakashi?" Orochimaru whispers as he kneels down beside me, "Regretting not joining me yet?"

"Bastard," I mutter, "Go to fucking Hell."

He smiles at me, "I'll have you begging for death before the end."

He stands up and purposely knees me in the head in the process. My vision goes blurry and then black – after doing the Patronus Charm and receiving the Cruciatus Curse I don't have the strength, nor the will, to keep myself in the conscious world.

The familiar blackness of unconsciousness swirls around me and I welcome it – knowing that the next time I wake up will probably lead to the most painful days of my life.

What a failure I've become. What was that saying I heard before? Oh yah: I'll be your hero but heroes often fail.

How fitting.

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_**Author's Notes: **Most of the dialogue that occured within the Shrieking Shack was taken directly from the movie and I don't claim to own it as my own or anything like that - I just bored it without permission, that's all, I swear:)_


	18. Darkness

**Red Hand**_**  
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_** Summary: **__A power is growing. Two forces are feared to be joining together and no one, except Kakashi, seems to understand what is happening. Will the young Hatake conquer his own demons in time to save the others he didn't realized he cared for? __:.:.Naruto/HP Crossover.:.:_

_**Genre: **Drama/Angst_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Author's Notes: **Holy fuck... an update? Has Hell frozen over? -- :D -- Anyways... here's the proof that I haven't forgotten about this story yet. RED HAND__ LIVES ON!!!!!  
_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. They are both owned by other, much richer people, mkay?_

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"blah, blah, blah"** -- English**

_"blah, blah, blah" _** -- Japanese**

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"Professor?" a young girl's scared voice breaks through the fuzzy haze that wraps itself around my brain.

"Professor Hatake?" she whispers again. I fight back a moan of pain and frustration that wishes to escape my lips.

Chains. I can feel shackles and chains around my wrists – suspending my arms above my head, my feet barely touching the ground.

"Professor?" that girl whispers again, her voice harsh against my ears and grating on my nerves.

"Shut-up," I mutter, not bothering to open my eyes. It's easier to pretend I haven't fucked up if I can't see the desperate situation I've landed myself in.

Silence falls upon us but I know it won't last for long. Not with that stupid far-too concerned and far-too nosey girl here.

"Professor?" she questions – yet again.

I knew the blissful silence wouldn't last for long.

"Professor, are you okay?" her concerned voice continues breaking the comforting silence.

"Didn't I tell you to shut-up?"

"But… but…" she stutters, "But aren't you going –"

"Go find yourself another hero," I coldly reply, "I quit."

"You can't quit!" a boy – Harry – yells at me.

"I never agreed to protect you to begin with," I state, "so it's only fair I get to pull our when I wish too."

"You can't just give up!" Harry continues to yell at me. He must know by now that he can't get out of this situation without my help.

I crack open my right eye to find myself chained to a wall in my own cell. The three children – Harry, Ron, and Hermione – are all in their own cells opposite me, side by side, and not chained up. Orochimaru must think they are of no concern, which is completely true.

"This isn't even my war." I stare into Harry's angry eyes. "So there's no point in fighting for something I don't give a shit about."

"But that guy," Hermione interjects, "Isn't he from your land? From your war?"

I blink, the only sign of my surprise over the fact that that girl figured that out, "Very observant. Too bad my mission isn't to protect you – or even to fight Orochimaru."

"So you're just going to abandon us?" Ron asks from his position on the floor where he's still clutching his injured, uncared for leg.

"Orochimaru is strong, I have to right to flee from him if I wish," I pull on the chains to test their strength – to strong for me to break out of.

"So you're just going to run away?" Harry spits out, "Do you not care for others?"

"You're not my responsibility," I reply calmly, "Nor are you any people I particularly care enough about to wish to protect."

"But—"

"Also," I interrupt Harry, 'the three of you are nothing but annoying brats who have only ever got in my way."

"But—"

"Shut-up," I mutter suddenly as a noise catches my attention.

Harry falls silent and I strain my ears to try and pick up the sound I heard earlier. There it is again – footsteps. Someone's coming, someone who is very, very strong.

"Orochimaru is coming," I whisper to the three children, "Don't do or say anything – you'll only piss him off and trust me, he won't show you any mercy."

The malice chakra grows stronger with every passing second – every footstep that echoes off the walls I'm not even near.

"Are you sure he's coming?" Hermione asks.

"Shut-up," I mutter in frustration. Do these kids never do what they're told?

A few silent moments pass. Well, silent for the children but not for me – I can hear Orochimaru's footsteps. I can also hear another set of footsteps now too. Softer, lighter, and uneven. Voldemort must be with him too – he's the only other person I know that could hold that strange chakra. Chakra that is both strong but very weak at the same time; it doesn't really make much sense.

I hear the lock of the door being fiddled with and then the door is pulled open. I turn my head to watch who it is that has come to see us – it is indeed Orochimaru and Voldemort, just as I suspected.

"So you're awake," the Sannin states in observation.

"Really? I had thought this was a dream, thanks for informing me." I roll my eye in sarcasm.

Orochimaru chuckles. "Still hiding your fear with jokes, nh?"

"Still a bastard, nh?" I coldly reply.

"And he tells us to watch what we say," Ron whispers to Harry with a shake of his head.

Orochimaru unlocks my cell and enters, walking right up to me.

"Do you always have to stand so fucking close to me?" I question. "Seriously… I don't need to smell what you had for lunch."

He pulls a kunai out from a pocket somewhere in is clothes and uses the tip of it to push up my hitaiate. "I had decided to be kind and allow you to keep your hitaiate, but I don't think I shall anymore. Not after the words you've spoken to me." His voice is barely above that of a whisper.

"Oh no… looks like I'm being punished." I allow the sarcasm to hide the choking fear that surrounds my heart.

He removes my hitaiate with his other hand and tucks it into a pocket. The tip of kunai traces a path from my left temple down to my left cheekbone.

"It would be so easy for me to take that eye right now." The Sannin smiles at me. "It's a pity that it probably won't survive another transplant. Well… it's a pity for me but beneficial to you since it means I won't try to take it." He cocks his head and runs the kunai across my cheekbone, drawing blood. "But I think I may still remove it, you know, just to reduce your potential strength. I have to think about my future."

"Then why haven't you removed it? You've had plenty of opportunities… what's stopped you?" My voice holds a bitter edge now.

"I kind of enjoy watching you fight. You're very graceful, very beautiful… it's a lovely sight to behold."

"Great." I let the sarcasm come back. "Now I've got a stalker."

The Sannin chuckles then turns around. I let out a small sigh of relief as the kunai is removed from the general area of Obito's eye.

"Voldemort here thinks I should kill you Kakashi." Orochimaru locks the cell door behind him. "Says you're too much of a threat. Fancy that… he fears you more than he fears the Potter child. And apparently there's some sort of prophecy that says Potter is suppose to be the child to bring upon the death of Voldemort – or some shit like that."

"Really? I find that surprising," I state in complete truthfulness, "Potter killing Voldemort? That's like… I don't know what that's like. It's so absurd I can't even think of a comparison for it."

Orochimaru chuckles. "Don't get too relaxed here. Once I've done what I need to do I'll be back to see you."

I gulp, trying desperately to keep my panic in check. I think I've done a pretty remarkable job keeping my emotions in control this time around.

"Oh… and," Orochimaru speaks up as he opens the door to leave. "Don't try to do anything silly – I personally performed the seal on your chakra this time. There's no way you'll be able to break the seal without killing yourself."

I watch as the two of them leave and quietly lock the door behind them.

I close my eyes to block out the whining voice of that stupid girl. I dearly wish she would just be quiet so that I could focus and try to come up with a plan.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

"Shut-up!" I snap at her. "You're not helping."

She finally falls silent and I look at everything in the room and try to come up with a plan of escape. My mind goes over every possibly scenario but I can't seem to come up with anything that would work. This is all completely hopeless.

I don't know how long the four of us stayed in complete silence but it was long enough for both Ron and Harry to fall asleep. Though that annoying girl stays up and paces– I assume she's trying to figure out a way to escape on her own. Good luck to her.

I cock my head slightly as footsteps, other than Hermione's, catches my attention. "Stop pacing…" I mutter to the girl.

She stops and looks at me in question.

"Can you hear that?" I ask.

She listens for a few seconds than her face registers realization. Someone else is coming here. Quietly she wakes Harry and Ron with a few whispers and motions at them to be silent. A key jingles in the lock as someone tries to open the door in silence.

My internal clock informs me that it's well past midnight. Whoever is coming here must be coming against their orders.

The door creaks open and in walks none other than the traitor, the double servant, Severus Snape.

"Come to pay a parting visit?" I murmur, careful to keep my voice low so as not to alarm any guards that may be by.

He snarls at me. "It seems Dumbledore has instilled a gnawing sense of honor in me that I can't ignore."

I crack a sarcastic small smile underneath my mask. "Do you expect me to believe that you are risking your life and the wrath of both Voldemort and Orochimaru just to save the four of us?"

He shakes his head. "Believe whatever you wish but I will do what I feel I must. Be wary, this place will not be easy to escape."

I watch as he unlock the children's cells and then unlocks mine. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end in wary preparation as he reaches above my head to unlock the shackles then steps back.

"Go. But go silently and with speed. I trust that you will not have trouble finding your way out with that eye of yours."

"Harry, help Ron. And try not to hold us all up," I state to the shocked children still standing in their cells.

"It's not my fault I'm injured," Ron manages to mutter.

I ignore him. "Okay, if you three want to get out of here alive don't make a sound and do everything I say no matter how ridiculous or stupid it might seem like to you. Just do it. Because if you don't we'll just end up back here only Orochimaru **and** Voldemort will be even more pissed at us."

"Oh, and Kakashi," Severus whispers, "When Orochimaru spoke of your friends that he captured he was either lying or they've already been killed. There is no trace of them in this place."

I nod quietly and push away the grief that suddenly wants to assault me. Now is not the time to grieve over deaths that may or may not have occurred from a source that I may or may not be able to trust.

A nod at the frozen-to-the spot children tells them to leave and they do; silently and cautiously. My eyes stay on Severus so that if he decides to do anything I will be prepared to intervene. When the children safely through the door I walk through, keeping focused on Severus' chakra single even though he is now behind me.

Slowly I open my left eye to try and trace the way out of this place. A few steps takes me to the front of the huddled-together-children and a quick look behind me assures me that Severus is no longer a threat. Something tells me that I can trust him and that he's being true to his word.

Returning my gaze to the surroundings Obito's eye quickly finds the path that I could possibly lead to a safe exit. But there are guards about, wizards and witches mostly, but some carry the familiar chakra of those trained as Shinobis.

Nearly half and hour later, and twenty broken-necked and killed guards later, I find myself gasping for breath as a well placed and undetected kick sends me sprawling into the group of children.

A few deep breaths and quick blocks brings me back to a standing position in front of the children.

"_Still running away, nh? Just like always,_" a voice whispers.

I raise my line of vision from the very skilled Shinobi's feet to his face.

"_Sensei?_" My voice is hoarse and dry with repressed emotion.

How can he be here? He is dead. Dead. Fucking dead. Sealed a demon and died. He shouldn't be here. He **can't** be here. This is impossible. Obito's eye tells me that this isn't a genjutsu that I've been trapped in. Obito's eye also tells me that the man standing before me is real – just as real as myself and the children I protect behind me.

He slowly walks towards me. His presence chills me to the bone. "_You are weak. Your chakra is sealed,_" he states, "_That's disappointing. How could you let that happen?_"

"_It was Orochimaru,_" I pitifully respond, my voice cracking with the tears I'm barely holding back. His presence alone is enough to lift the desperate depression that has weighted me down since his death. He is here. He is standing in front of me. He is alive.

Never mind that he's fighting me. Never mind that he seems to be working for Orochimaru and Voldemort. He's alive – and that is all that matters.

"_Don't tell me you still freeze in the presence of Orochimaru. You should be stronger than that by now._"

The disappointment in his voice breaks me. Shatters my last remaining thread of dignity and self-control. The desperate tears soak my mask.

"What are they saying?" I hear Harry whisper to Hermione but their voices mean nothing to me anymore.

"I don't know. They're speaking Japanese," she replies.

"_Crying?_" He chuckles. "_Crying? How pitiful, how desperate, how un-Shinobi like._"

"_I've missed you,_" I murmur as he now stands inches away from me. So close that if I reached out I would be able to touch him. "_I've missed all three of you._"

"_I know._" He smiles. "_I know the pain you feel but that is nothing compared to what you're about to feel._"

Obito's eye flashes a warning. On extinct I shift my weight to the left in an attempt to dodge. The kunai in my hand, stolen from one of the guards I killed, pierces the chest of the one who stands in front of me.

I feel the warmth of blood pour against my arm… but it also soaks my clothes. I look down and Sensei's Rasengan as shredded the right part of my abdomen; torn through skin and muscle and cracked the first few ribs.

The sound of clapping reaches my ears and I lift my gaze from my injury and see Orochimaru walk around the corner… clapping.

"_Very good Kakashi, as expected. Your training and your Genius extinct still overrides your emotions. You desire to live is stronger than your desire to see the ones you claim to care so much for._" He smiles at me, smiles that stupid smug smile of his. "_Too bad you have been tricked. I didn't think you would fall for it but you did. That, I can say, was unexpected._"

I look back into the face of Sensei. Or rather, the face that used to be Sensei. Slowly that face begins to fade away and change.

"_Asuma?_" I whisper, fresh new tears falling from my eyes.

Did I just kill Asuma? Did I just pierce my best friends heart? How? Why? Why did he…?

"_What the fuck is going on?_" I blurt out. "_What kind of sick game is this!_"

"_Oh, this is not a game Kakashi._" The Sannin laughs. "_No... not a game at all._"

"_Please… please…_" Blood is gurgling out of Asuma's mouth now. "_Had to… save… save her… Kurenai… forgive… please… forgive me…had... had to try... please..._"

His body falls limp against mine and I push him away in blind anger now directed at Orochimaru.

"_What is this?_" I mutter in pure confusion and drained emotions.

How does Asuma even know the Rasengan? How could he try to kill me like that? How could he even concede to follow Orochimaru? Saving Kurenai, helping Kurenai, couldn't cause him to join forces with Orochimaru… could it? It seems so wrong, so very unlike him.

In a blind rage I charge forward but suddenly I stop as I find myself in a completely different place.

Great, now I'm trapped in a genjutsu. Just fucking awesome.

I blink a couple times to get my bearings. A small metal room, I'm on the outside of a small metal room with a window that I'm looking through. There's people in that room – people I don't recognize. They seem scared. Some hold on to others in fear while others stand in silent acceptance of their fate.

I watch in horror, unable to tear my eyes away, as a few showers turn on within the room. The liquid that they spurt out is not water… no. The liquid burns the skin of the ones within the rooms. Turns their skin black and burns it off. Their screams echo of the walls and gurgle for a few seconds before stopping. But their pain continues as they writhe around in a desperate attempt to escape the burning that melts their skin and slowly kills them.

The liquid is acid.

The showers shut-off when the last person stops moving. People come in and hose the bodies down before dragging them out. I find myself unable to control my body and I simply walk out a near door to find myself outside. The bloody and black-burnt bodies from the acid shower are being dragged out of the room and dumped in a ditch. The stench in unbearable and makes me gag as I desperately try hold back the urge to throw-up.

I turn around and a line of people, nearly a hundred, stand nearby. They're of all ages, from young to old. They stand in silence and clear acceptance as a man walks down the line – stopping in front of each person to slice their throat and kick their dying bodies into the ditch behind them. Some of the children begin to softly cry but their soft cries sound like screams to me in the cold silence out here.

I can still smell the burnt flesh from the acid shower.

I turn to my left to find myself looking at a single-file line of people with ropes around their necks, standing on barrels. A gust of wind blows by and knocks the barrels down, causing the people to fall and the ropes to tighten around their necks – the ropes attached to seemingly nothing. Their faces turn white with lack of oxygen and some of them futile kick their feet in an attempt to free themselves from their nooses.

Thousands of them suffocate to death. And as soon as their bodies finally give up they fall to the ground. One person takes nearly seven minutes to fall to the ground – he's the longest one, the strongest struggler.

I suddenly begin to recognize them. These aren't strangers... these are people I know. Their faces are familiar.

They're from Konoha.

I gasp in shock and desperate, chocking grief. I tear my eyes from the suffocated corpses and run to the ditch of the ones whose throats were being cut. The faces there are easy to place.

The faces are the Shinobis; Jiraiya, Sarutobi, Genma, Kurenai... the list goes on and on. Every Shinobi in all of Konoha. Every Shinobi I've ever seen, even the ones I hadn't worked with.

I jerk around as a hand touches my shoulder. I find myself face to face with Orochimaru himself. He pushes me down to my knees and leans down so that his nose is mere millimeters away from mine.

"_Seems like you've failed again,_" he whispers.

My eyes catch a small glimmer as light is reflected off of a kunai in the Sannin's hand.

And then nothing but darkness and pain. It takes me a few moments to realize that the screams I'm hearing are my own voice. The pain is causing my ears to ring and blocking out all other thoughts.

Eventually I focus enough on my deep, gasping breaths that I can finally begin to focus again. And the pain starts to subdue, just a little, but enough that I can begin to calm down.

But everything's still black, and I'm surrounded by nothing except darkness.

"_I wonder how hard it is…_" Orochimaru's voice reaches my ears. "_…to be a blind Shinobi._"

A sense of panic grips me as I lift my hands to touch my face. I can feel the sticky blood on my cheeks and slowly I feel the gaping holes where my eyes used to be.

The gaping holes that are my now-empty eye sockets.


End file.
